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THE 



CAMBRIAN PLUTARCH: 

COMPRISING 

MEMOIRS 

OF 

SOME OF THE MOST EMINENT 
WELSHMEN, 

FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE PRESENT. 






By JOHN H. PARRY, Esq. 



LONDON: 
PRINTED FOR W. SIMPKIN AND R. MARSHALL, 

STATIONERS'-HALL COUKT, LUDGATE STREET. 



1824, 










J. M'Creery, Tooks court, 
Chaccery-lane, Loudon, 



PREFACE 



In offering the following work to the public, it is 
impossible for the author not to be influenced by 
a more than ordinary anxiety respecting its fate. 
His own comparative inexperience as a public 
writer, and the consciousness he unaffectedly feels 
of his imperfections in this respect, might of them- 
selves be sufficient to justify this solicitude. But 
there are other circumstances that serve, in a mate- 
rial degree, to augment the apprehension he enter- 
tains as to the favourable reception of the Cam- 
brian Plutarch, and which require some preli- 
minary notice. 

It is a fact not to be questioned, that a remark- 
able degree of ignorance prevails respecting the 
literature and history of that portion of our island, 
in which such of the aboriginal race, as had sur- 
vived the repeated shocks of foreign invasion, 
sought their last asylum from the swords of their 
enemies. While the national peculiarities, whether 
in manners or literature, of Scotland and Ireland, 
have been industriously explored, and, in many 
instances, successfully developed, Wales has been 

a 2 



IV PREFACE. 

regarded with an indifference not easily to be re- 
conciled with that spirit of enterprise, by which 
the literary republic of Great Britain is known to 
be animated. Some efforts, it is true, have been 
made to describe the peculiar habits and customs 
of the Welsh; but, in most instances, these, instead 
of being faithful portraits, have been mere idle 
caricatures. The writers have, for the most part, 
enjoyed few or none of those advantages which 
are indispensable to a just delineation of national 
characteristics, and many of them have been con- 
tent to adopt, without examination, the imperfect 
or distorted sketches of others. To these and 
similar causes it is owing that so much indifference, 
to speak generally, has been manifested towards 
any thing relating to the national features of Wales. 
The public have judged, upon grounds sufficiently 
plausible, that a country, of which so little that is 
interesting has hitherto been divulged, can possess 
but few resources either for their instruction or en- 
tertainment. 

A more auspicious light, indeed, seems recently 
to have dawned upon the cause of Welsh litera- 
ture ; and, if it has not as yet been the means of 
extending the knowledge of it in any material 
degree, it has apparently awakened a more ge- 
neral interest in its behalf. This, at least, is true 
of the natives of Wales themselves, who seem at 
length to have emerged from the ungerrial apathy, 



PREFACE. V 

by which they had been too long overwhelmed. 
Yet, much remains to be done before the cause, 
in which they have associated, can make any im- 
portant progress beyond the confines of the Prin- 
cipality. It is not sufficient that Welshmen have 
at last learned to appreciate the value of their 
ancient literary remains, whether of history or of 
poetry. In order to do full justice to their na- 
tional literature, in order to make it an object 
of interest to others, they should divest it of its 
native garb, and present it to the world in a form 
more qualified to allure the general reader. At 
present, Englishmen have few or no means of esti- 
mating the justice of that enthusiasm, with which 
the names of Taliesin, flywel Dda, or Llywelyn, 
are hailed on the soil of their birth ; and they 
may well be excused if they continue sceptical 
in a cause, of which they are not placed in a situa- 
tion to judge. 

Such are the circumstances, presenting a mix- 
ture of discouragement and of hope, under which 
the present work issues from the press ; and there 
is reason to believe, that it is the first effort to 
combine, under one view, any enlarged biogra- 
phical notices of the more eminent natives of the 
Principality. On this account it may perhaps be 
received with indulgence: the author at least 
hopes, that it will not be condemned with unre- 
flecting severity. 



VI PREFACE. 

The lives embraced in this volume, the reader 
will perceive, are arranged in a chronological or- 
der, commencing with the beginning of the sixth 
century, — a considerable time indeed before the 
dominion of the Cymry, or Ancient Britons, was 
exclusively confined to Wales, but still long after 
the period when they first took possession of that 
country. Arthur, the first name on the list, may 
possibly startle those, who have derived their only 
knowledge of that individual from the fabulous le- 
gends, of which he is the hero ; but it is proper to 
add, that none of these were consulted on the oc- 
casion of writing the present brief memoir, which 
is drawn, almost entirely, from such sources as 
have ever been deemed of sufficient authenticity 
by those, to whom the ancient historical notices of 
Wales are familiar. 

Independently of the avowed historical resour- 
ces, of which use has been made in this volume, 
there are others that may not appear quite so ob- 
vious to the general reader. Of these the chief 
are the ancient Welsh poems and Triads. Some 
observations on the more remarkable features of 
the former will be found in the Life of Aneurin; 
and from these it will be seen, that, as historical 
documents, where they are connected with the 
events of the times, the effusions of the ancient 
bards have a value, which does not, in general, 
belong to productions of this nature. With re- 



PREFACE. VII 

spect to the Triads, which are perhaps peculiar to 
Welsh literature, they embody, in their quaint 
form, some of the earliest traditions relating to 
the history of this island ; and, as they are con- 
firmed, in numerous instances, by other authori- 
ties, an equal credit may, without difficulty, be 
conceded to them in those, in which such confir- 
mation is wanting. Wherever, therefore, any no- 
tices connected with this work have been found in 
the Triads, the author has not hesitated to avail 
himself of them ; yet these are not numerous, and 
relate, as will be seen, to the earliest lives. In a 
word, with reference to the two sources of infor- 
mation now alluded to, poetry, among the Cymry, 
had, for ages, anticipated the functions of history, 
and in the Triads were often preserved what might 
not admit of diffusion in the strains of the bard. 
These phenomena, in ancient Welsh literature, 
had apparently their origin in the Bardic, or 
Druidical Institution, of which the encouragement 
of oral tradition, whether by songs or aphorisms, 
formed a prominent characteristic. 

The reader must not conclude, that the follow- 
ing pages embrace all that is worthy of record in 
the biographical annals of Wales. The few names 
to which they are confined form a selection out 
of a considerable number, most of them equally 
worthy of the pen of the biographer. But the au- 
thor's plan was originally of a limited nature, and 



Vlll PREFACE. 

the chronological arrangement he had adopted 
made it unexpectedly necessary, in the progress 
of the work, to curtail it still more. The conse- 
quence has been, that many lives of interest have 
been excluded, which, however, if the present 
humble attempt should be favourably received, 
may serve to form a supplementary volume. 

It may be necessary also to premise, that, in 
making the selection for this work, regard was 
paid to such individuals only as had, in some re- 
spect or other, identified themselves with the land 
of their birth, by a promotion of its literary or 
political interests. Accordingly, many natives of 
Wales, who have eminently distinguished them- 
selves in other countries, but whose labours have 
in no way been conducive to the immediate inte- 
rests of their own, have not been considered as 
being embraced within the design of the Cambrian 
Plutarch. If any apparent exceptions to these 
remarks should be found, they must be ascribed 
to some peculiarity of circumstances, that in- 
fluenced the mind of the writer, and which it 
might be tedious here to explain. 

There is one feature of this work, which, pro- 
bably, will not pass unnoticed. This is the great 
number of notes, which, according to the particu- 
lar taste of the reader, may be regarded either as 
a blemish or an advantage. The truth, however, 
is, that the author would gladly have dispensed 



PREFACE. IX 

with them, if he could have done so without endan- 
gering that perspicuity, which he was particularly 
anxious to cultivate. And this solicitude was na- 
turally increased by his consciousness of the ge- 
neral ignorance or misinformation, already advert- 
ed to, on subjects connected with Wales. 

In conclusion, it only remains for the author to 
advert to a departure from the common orthogra- 
phy of the Welsh language as received at the pre- 
sent day, that has been adopted in this volume. 
Allusion is here made to the substitution of v for 
f, and, except in the case of proper names, of f for 
ff ; which, however, can only be regarded as an 
attempt to emancipate the letters in question from 
the abuses to which they have been too long ex- 
posed, and thus to restore them to their primitive 
rights. That this attempt, when opposed to the 
inveteracy of habit and the influence of autho- 
rity, will prove abortive, there is too much reason 
to apprehend. Yet, it may be hoped, that what 
the example of a humble individual may fail to 
effect, will, at no distant day, be accomplished by 
the united efforts of the more enlightened natives 
of Wales, and especially in a case where the exist- 
ing corruption has never been defended on any 
rational grounds. 



CONTENTS. 



Page 

Arthur 1 

Aneurin 21 

Taliesin 41 

Llywarch Hen . 55 

St. David . 71 

Asser Menevensis 86 

Hywel Dda 98 

Rhys ab Tewdwr Ill 

Owain Gwynedd 123 

Giraldus Cambrensis . 146 

Llywelyn ab Gruff ydd 173 

Davydd ab Gwilym 209 

Owain Glyndwr 229 

Sir Rhys ab Thomas 273 

Humphrey Llwyd 299 

Dr. John David Rhys 309 

Bishop Morgan . 318 

Dr. John Davies 329 

Edward Llwyd 337 

Lewis Morris - 34^8 

Thomas Pennant, Esq 357 

Rev. Peter Roberts 376 



THE 



CAMBRIAN PLUTARCH 



ARTHUR. 



To rescue truth from the embraces of fiction, and to erect 
on the ruins of fable the fair edifice of genuine history, must 
be, at all times, a work of no little hazard. And the task 
acquires a peculiar difficulty, when it concerns those legen- 
dary productions, in which our infancy has been wont to 
delight, and which are accordingly associated with our 
earliest prepossessions. The visions of childhood are not 
easily dissipated ; for, whatever may be the influence of a 
maturer experience, it is not without reluctance that the 
mind emancipates itself from the spell of its former illusions. 
Where the genius of Romance has spread around her gor- 
geous creation, we love to linger near the visionary scene — 
we hold enraptured converse with all its fantastic popula- 
tion, and, when, at length, the charm is dissolved, we are 
loath to acknowledge those beings as merely human, whom 
we have been accustomed to regard as little less than divine. 
There can be no case more strongly illustrative of the 
justice of these observations than the history of the re- 
nowned Arthur ; enveloped, as it has been, in the splendid 
disguises of chivalry, and in the extravagant decorations of 
romantic or mythological lore. To strip our hero of these 
delusive ornaments, and to present him to the world in his 



real character — not as the triumphant invader of distant 
countries* — not as the conqueror of giants and kingdoms 
— not as the possessor of every human excellence, and even 
of supernatural powersf, but merely as a warrior, distin- 
guished indeed by his valour and his successes, but not 
otherwise exalted above his contemporaries — is an under- 
taking of no common risk. Those, who have from their 
cradle been taught to admire 



what resounds 



In fable or romance of Uther's son, 
Begirt with British and Armoric knights, 

will hardly descend to contemplate that same individual, 
as one exposed to the ordinary vicissitudes of fortune, and 
pretending to no other reputation than what belongs to the 
warlike champion of an uncivilized age. Yet at last we 
may say, with an ingenious writer, that, " when all fictions" 
in the life of Arthur " are removed, and when those inci- 
dents only are retained, which the sober criticism of his- 

* Among the countries, which Arthur is reported by Geoffrey of Mon- 
mouth and others to have subdued, are Ireland, Denmark, Norway, and 
Palestine, from which latter place he is modestly recorded to have brought 
away the holy cross as a trophy. The visions of these romancers are effec- 
tually dispelled by the more sober testimony of the ancient bards and the 
Triads. 

f There is no virtue, actual or ideal, with which the legendary biogra- 
phers of Arthur have not adorned his romantic character. Geoffrey of 
Monmouth, with a hyperbolical profaneness, asserts, that " God hath not 
created, since the time of Adam, a man more perfect than Arthur; and 
that this perfection was bestowed upon him by God, as an inherent virtue 
from his birth." Yet even this eulogium is outdone by Joseph of Exeter, 
who, in his Antiocheis, ascribes to our hero a superiority not only over all 
former excellence, but over all that may possibly exist hereafter. These 
are his words : — 



— reges supereminet omnes 

Solus ; praeteritis melior mqjorque futuris. 



tory sanctions with its approbation, a fame, ample enough 
to interest the judicious and to perpetuate his honourable 
memory, will still continue to bloom # ." 

Arthur was the son of Meirig ab Tewdrig, a prince of the 
Silurian Britons at the commencement of the sixth century, 
and who is, in all probability, to be identified with our 
hero's reputed sire, Uthyr, or Uther, of legendary celebrity. 
For the custom of adopting assumed appellations was by 
no means unusual with the Britons of that age ; and hence 
the epithet of Uthyr, or Wonderful, may naturally have 
been appropriated to Meirig, whose exploits, in his wars 
with the Saxons, appear to have given him a claim to such 
a distinction*!-. And it has been plausibly surmised, that 
the name of Arthur was likewise of the same nature, bor- 
rowed, perhaps, from some fabulous hero, before eminent 
in the traditions of the country ; and thus may have origi- 
nated those extraneous embellishments, which have served 
to obscure the true history. Nor is it unworthy of notice, 
that Arthur is, in Welsh, synonymous with the constellation 
of Ursa Major, a coincidence, to which we may probably 
trace some of the mythological properties, with which the 
character of this ambiguovs personage has been invested J. 
But, whatever may have been the original appellation of 
the celebrated son of Meirig, the only one, that history has 



* Turner's " History of the Anglo-Saxons," vol. i. p. 230. 

t The other name of Pendragon, applied to Uthyr, denotes a supreme 
leader or ruler, and has no reference, as Camden and others have imagined, 
either to the " serpentine subtlety" of that chieftain, or to the emblem borne 
on his banners. 

% Another constellation, that of Lyra, also bears, in Welsh, the name of 
the Silurian chieftain. It is called Telyn Arthur, the Harp of Arthur. Yet 
it is more than probable, that it had this designation long before Arthur's 
existence, and that it meant, originally, the Harp of the Great Bear, as the 
words literally imply. 

B2 



transmitted to us, is that, under which he is here presented 
to the reader. 

Of the mother of Arthur we have no certain account; for 
the assertion of Geoffrey of Monmouth, that he was the 
offspring of an illicit intercourse between his father and a 
Cornish princess, does not appear to be deserving of much 
credit*. We learn, however, from some ancient "Welsh 
records, that he had a sister, named Anna, who was mar- 
ried to Llew, a brother of Urien, a distinguished chief of 
the Cumbrian Britons, during that warlike and turbulent 
age. It was this Anna, that gave birth to Medrod, who 
was destined by his unnatural treason to have so fatal an 
influence, as we shall hereafter see, on the fortunes of his 
renowned uncle. 

According to some writers, Arthur first saw the light at 
Tindagel in Cornwall, a country at that time inhabited by 
a people of kindred extraction and language with the na- 
tives of Wales, and united with them in one common league 
against the Saxons. It is not improbable, therefore, that 
the events of the times may have led Meirig to reside occa- 
sionally with his family among the Cornish Britons, who 
may have marched to battle under his banners, as they 
afterwards did under those of his son. For, whether Arthur 
was a native or not of this part of the kingdom, he is re- 



* The intercourse, here noticed, was carried on, as Geoffrey affirms, by 
the magical contrivance of Merlin, who enabled Uthyr to assume the form 
of the princess's husband, Gorlois. John Hauvillan, an Anglo-Latin poet, 
has the following allusion to this happy stratagem : — 

Facie dum falsus adulter 

Tindagel irrupuit, nee amoris Pendragon aestum 
Vincit, et omnifiens Merlini consulit artes, 
Mentiturque ducis habitus, et, rege latente, 
Induit absentis prceseutia Gorlois ora. 



corded, in the Historical Triads, to have had a supreme 
court in Cornwall, at a place called Celliwig ; the identity of 
which with Tindagel has been conjectured, yet more, per- 
haps, from a desire to favour the tradition respecting the 
place of his birth, than upon any more satisfactory grounds*. 

Of the juvenile years and early education of Arthur we 
have no particular memorials. That he was soon initiated 
in those martial pursuits, in which he afterwards excelled, 
may be inferred, as well from the manners of that period, 
as from the early age, at which he was elected to the chief 
sovereignty of the Britons. And we may conclude, that 
some attention was likewise paid to his religious instruction, 
from the circumstance that his father evinced a remarkable 
zeal in the cause of Christianity, which he considerably 
promoted amongst his countrymen, by the erection of a 
college at Llancarvan in South Wales. And the concur- 
rence of all the popular legends relating to Arthur, in 
ascribing to him the same laudable spirit in a pre-eminent 
degree, communicates to the foregoing surmise an addi- 
tional weight. 

About the year 517 Arthur was called to take the su- 
preme command of his countrymen against the growing 
dominion of the Saxons, and that too by a general suffrage, 
such as had, in earlier times, conferred a similar distinction 
on Cassivellaunus and Caractacus, when, in the hour of 
emergency, they were selected to oppose the powerful arms 
of Romef. According to some authorities, Arthur was, at 



* Celliwig has likewise been attempted to be identified both with Lest- 
withieland Pendennis Castle. But. the truth is now, most probably, beyond 
the reach of conjecture. 

+ We have the express testimony of Cajsar, that Cassivellaunus, or Cas- 
wallon, was thus elected. See Bell. Gall. 1. v. c. 9. And with respect 
to Caradog, the celebrated Caractacus of the Roman writers, he is described 



6 

this time, no more than fifteen years of age; but, as he is 
recorded to have exercised, for several years before, the 
sovereign power over his patrimonial territory in South 
Wales, it is probable, that, although young, he must have 
been of a maturer age than that assigned to him at the 
period alluded to. He is recorded, on this occasion, to have 
been invested with the insignia of royalty, with great pomp 
and solemnity, at Caerlleon on XJsk, by Dyvrig, or Dubri- 
cius, Archbishop of Llandav, and in the presence of se- 
veral British princes, who were, probably, thus convened to 
give their sanction to the national vote*. Whatever credit 
may be due to this account, it is still certain that Arthur 
was, at an early period of life, entrusted with a pre-eminent 
military command, and owing, we may reasonably conclude, 
to the experience his countrymen already possessed of his 
talents and courage. 

by Tacitus as one, " quem multa ambigua, multa prospera extulerant, ut 
caeteros Britannorum imperatores praemineret." — Annal. 1. xii. c. 33. They 
are both, moreover, recorded in the Historical Triads, as having been raised 
to the sovereignty by the public vote. See the Cambro-Briton, vol. i. p. 
168. 

* Among the writers who have adopted or embellished the legend of 
Geoffrey relating to this event, are Matthew of Westminster, Leland, and 
Churchyard, in his " Worthiness of Wales;" the first of whom thus speaks 
of the reputation in which Arthur was held when thus raised to sovereign 
rank : " Erat," he aays, " tam inauditae virtutis atque largitatis, unde tan- 
tarn gratiam promeruit, nt a cunctis et etiam ab hostibus commendaretur." 
Churchyard enumerates four kings, those of " Albania, Venedocia, Corn- 
wall, and Dimetia," as forming part of the royal procession on this occasion, 
each bearing in his hand a golden sword ; and their queens, he adds, in like 
manner, carried four white doves. He, moreover, introduces twelve " dis- 
creet personages of reverend countenance," bearing olive boughs in token 
of their " ambassage" from the Roman general, Lucius Tiberius, on whose 
behalf they were come to demand of Arthur the tribute withheld from the 
Romans since the time of Julius Caesar. Such are the fantastic flowers, 
with which fiction delights to wreathe the chaste brows of history. 



From tlie time that Arthur was thus raised to the chief 
dominion over his countrymen, it is reasonable to presume, 
that the distracted state of the times must have involved 
him in much war and bloodshed. His whole life, indeed, 
from the period alluded to, was, in all probability, a conti- 
nued series of martial achievements. For, in the north of 
England, in Wales, and in Cornwall, the Britons, or Cymry*, 
were still in sufficient force to resist, as they often did with 
signal advantage, the incursions of their Saxon invaders. 
Nennius, who in his Historia Brittonum has given a brief 
outline of the exploits of Arthur, enumerates twelve battles, 
in which he commanded against the Saxons, and in all of 
which he ascribes the victory to the British chief. The 
orthographical obscurities of this writer, however, owing 
either to his own ignorance or to the carelessness of tran- 
scribers, render it impossible, in most instances, to speak 
with any degree of certainty of the local situation of these 
engagements. The learned historian of Manchester has 
made an able attempt towards the illustration of some of 
them; but too much doubt still hangs over the subject to 
admit of the unqualified adoption of Mr. Whitaker's inge- 
nious conjectures^- . 

But, although it would be extremely hazardous to place 
implicit reliance on the authority of Nennius in this instance, 
it may be collected from other less questionable sources, 
that Arthur was engaged in several conflicts as well against 

* The English reader should here be apprised, that Cymry is the name 
by which the Welsh have distinguished themselves from time immemorial. 
It implies a first or aboriginal people, and is pronounced as if written Kumry. 
It may also be necessary to inform the Welsh reader, that, in compliance with 
popular usage, the term Britons is often employed in these pages, where 
Cymry would have been more strictly correct. 

t See the History of Manchester, voL ii. p. 31, &c. for an interesting, 
though hypothetical, narrative of the wars of Arthur. 



8 

domestic foes as against the common enemy. The most 
important of those fought with the latter is allowed by the 
concurrent testimony of most early writers to have been the 
battle of Badon Hill as it is commonly called, fought in the 
vicinity of Bath*. According to most authorities, this was 
also the first engagement of note, which Arthur had with 
the Saxons, although it occurs last in the list given by Nen- 
nius. Bede, however, a more authentic as well an earlier 
writer, and who is followed by Usher, fixes this battle in 
the year ^ve hundred and twenty, about three years after 
the presumed era of Arthur's election to the sovereign com- 
mand. The Saxons, on this occasion, were led by the 
brave Cerdic, who in the preceding year, according to the 
Saxon Chronicle, had gained considerable advantages over 
the Britons at a place thence called Cerdicsford, now Chard- 
ford, in Hampshire. It is by no means improbable, that 
these successes of Cerdic may have roused the Britons to 
more vigorous exertions, which terminated with their tri- 
umph at Badon. And this agrees with the testimony of an 
ancient Welsh poem, which, in allusion to the event, has 
the following lines : — 

i 
Woe to the miserable ones, on account of the battle of Badon ! 

Arthur was at the head of the valiant with their blood red blades ; 

He revenged on his foes the blood of his warriors, 

Warviors, who had been the defence of the sovereigns of the north. 

The prodigies of personal valour, ascribed by Nennius 



* Some writers, without any foundation, have placed the scene of this 
battle in the north ; but we would rather agree with Camden, who says, it 
was fought near the hill now called " Bannesdown, hanging over the little 
village of Bathstone, and shewing in his day," as he tells us, * its bulwarks 
and rampii e." And it is no small proof of this being the Badon alluded to, 
that the adjacent vale on the Avon bears still among the Welsh the name of 
Nant Badon, or the Valley of Badon. 



9 

to Arthur on this occasion, belong more to fable than his- 
tory*. But, as it is recorded, that, in a treaty concluded 
with Cerdic after the engagement, the supremacy of the 
British chieftain was fully acknowledged, the decisive cha- 
racter of the battle may easily be inferred. It secured to 
him, in all probability, the independence of his dominions 
on both banks of the Severn. 

It is impossible to enumerate, in their proper order, any 
of the other battles of Arthur, that intervened between the 
one just noticed, and the fatal conflict of Camlan. Many, 
no doubt, were fought as well in the general warfare against 
the Saxons, as in the civil dissensions amongst the Britons 
themselves. Two are specified by Llywarch Hen, or Llyw- 
arch the Aged, ah eminent Welsh bard and a contempo- 
rary. One of these was fought at Llongborth, and the 
other upon the Llawen ; but the precise situation in both 
cases is involved in considerable obscurity. Llongborth 
was some harbour in the southern coast of England ; and 
an ingenious writer*!* identifies it with Portsmouth, and sup- 
poses the battle in question to have been that fought with 
Porta on his first landing at that place. That the engage- 
ment, with whomsoever fought, took place after Arthur had 
been raised to the sovereign power, may be clearly inferred 
from the expression of the poet above alluded to, who says — 

At Llongborth were slain to Arthur 

Valorous heroes, who hewed down with steel, 

The emperor was he and chief conductor of the toil of war. 

And, from his general description of the contest, it must 



* " In this engagement," quoth Nennius with all the gravity of a vera- 
cious historian, " nine hundred and forty fell by his own hand alone, no one 
but the Lord affording him assistance." — See Gunn's Translation, p. 36. 

f Mr. Turner, in his History of the Anglo-Saxons. 



10 

have been of a most obstinate character ; for he adverts to 
" men engaged with blood to their knees," and to " biers 
loaded with innumerable slain :" — expressions, that, with all 
due allowance for poetical embellishment, must be taken as 
indicative of a fierce and sanguinary encounter. We are 
not expressly informed of the event of the battle ; but the 
general tenour of the poem seems to favour the presump- 
tion, that Arthur and his followers were triumphant. Of 
the other conflict, which took place on the Llawen, a river 
most probably in North Britain, by some supposed to be the 
Leven, and by others the Lon, we have but a scanty notice, 
and even that in some respect questionable, as it regards 
Arthur. It occurs in a passage in which the bard has an 
apparent allusion to one of his sons as having fought under 
the British champion upon this occasion*. 

Although, at this distance of time, we cannot pretend to 
particularize the numerous actions in which Arthur signa- 
lized himself against the enemies of his country, we are 
justified by the general voice of history in ascribing to him 
a pre-eminent character in this point of view. In addition 
to Llywarch, already quoted, two other contemporary poets, 
Taliesin and Merddin, are loud in his praise as a successful 
warrior and a distinguished commander. Nor is it any de- 
traction from his reputation in this respect, that he was oc- 
casionally foiled by the bravery or skill of his adversaries. 
Cerdic, in particular, to whom it may be presumed he was 
opposed, even after the combat at Badon Hill, is allowed 



* The passage in question is to be found in Llywarcb's Poem on his Old 
Age, in which he speaks of one of his sons as having fought on the Llawen, 
when " Arthur did not retreat ;" but, as there is a different reading of the 
original, which excludes all notice of Arthur, the authority is by no means 
decisive. — vSee Owen's Translation of the " Heroic Elegies of Llywarch 
H$n," p. 130. 



11 

frequently to have fought under happier auspices, and to 
have derived new energy even from his defeats*. But it 
was not against dexterity and valour alone that Arthur had 
to contend : he had to oppose the more dangerous machi- 
nations of treachery and of treason. 

Among the Britons of this age, of whom we have any 
memorials, the name of Medrodf has been handed down 
with peculiar infamy. He was a native of the northern part 
of the island, and a nephew of Arthur, being, as already 
incidentally noticed, the son of his sister Anna. Early in life, 
as it would seem, Medrod was admitted into the court of 
Arthur, where he became remarkable not less for his insi- 
nuating address than for his personal prowess. It is pro- 
bable, therefore, that these qualities served to ingratiate 
Jhim with his uncle, whose friendship and confidence he ap- 
pears to have enjoyed in a distinguished degree. For 
during the absence of Arthur on one occasion, probably in 
one of his military campaigns J, Medrod was entrusted with 
the regency, and basely availed himself of the power he 
thus possessed to plot the destruction of his friend and 
kinsman. He accordingly entered into a conspiracy with 
another traitor named Iddog, who appears to have been 
alike privy to the plans and counsels of Arthur, and to have 
been equally ready to abuse the confidence he had ac- 



* Hence the author of the Polychronium observes of Cerdic, " si semel 
vinceretur, ali& vice acrior surrexit ad pugnam." 

t Erroneously called Modred by almost all English writers. 

t Arthur, according to some of his fabulous biographers, was, on this 
occasion, absent in Armorica; according to others, he was marching for 
Rome. It is safer to presume, however, that, while Medrod was thus en- 
gaged in his traitorous enterprise in Cornwall, the British chieftain was em- 
ployed against the Saxons in some other part of the island, and most pro- 
bably in the north, which was, for a long period, the scene of the most ob- 
stinate struggles between the British and Saxon forces. 



12 

quired*. The secret confederacy thus formed soon ripened 
into open hostility ; and there is reason to infer, that Me- 
drod was able to seduce to his cause no inconsiderable 
number of his countrymen, too willing in that turbulent age 
to swell the ranks of violence and dissension. 

Medrod's first act of aggression, after this proof of his 
villainy and ingratitude, was to lay waste the royal domains 
of Arthur in Cornwall; and this he is represented to have 
done in so effectual a manner as to have left nothing uncon- 
sumed that was capable of being destroyed. And, that his 
baseness might not want its consummation, he is recorded 
to have forced Gwenhwyvar, the wife of Arthur, into a 
compliance with his incestuous passion. The perfidy of 
Medrod, however, did not remain long without its reward ; 
for Arthur, upon receiving intelligence of it, took ample re- 
prisals upon the patrimonial possessions of the traitor in the 
north, destroying, with an unsparing hand, whatever pre- 
sented itself to the fury of his revenge. Both these events 
are recorded in the Historical Triads, and are by no means 
inconsistent with the lawless spirit of an age, in which social 
rights were too often made subservient to the gratification 
of every disorderly passion. Yet, agreeably with the an- 
cient usages of the Britons, the country was bound to in- 
demnify the aggrieved from the effects of such public enor- 
mities ; and hence the acts of violence above related are 



* This person is called Iddog Corn Prydain in the Triads, where he is 
twice lecorded for this act of baseness. The conference between him and 
Medrod, at which their plans were formed, is described to have been held 
at a place called Nanhwynain.— See the Cambro- Briton, vol. i. pp. 171 
and 203. Iddog afterwards embraced a religious life, as if to atone, by an' 
appearance of piety, for the treachery of which he had been previously 
guilty. His name is accordingly to be found enrolled amongst those of the 
British Saints. 



13 

enumerated in the Triads among the " dear devastations of 
the Isle of Britain*.'* 

This reciprocity of private outrage "was soon followed by 
more general hostilities; for MedrotJ, exasperated, as we 
may presume, by the summary chastisement which his trai- 
torous conduct had so justly entailed upon him, united his 
forces with those of the Saxons. And it is probable, as 
assumed in the popular legends of Arthur, that this unna- 
tural league was the source of several engagements between 
the Britons and Saxons, in which the former were vic- 
torious, previously to the last important conflict, which 
determined at once the power and the life of the British 
warrior. 

Whatever uncertainty may hang over any other portion 
of the memorials of Arthur, it seems to be placed beyond a 
doubt, that he closed his career in the battle of Camlan, 
fought, according to the most probable calculation, about 
the year 542. The ancient Welsh writings, whether poet- 
ical or historical, concur in the statement of this event, 
which is also adopted by all English authors of any creditf. 
Different opinions, however, have existed as to the situation 
of Camlan, some placing it in the North of England, and 
others in Cornwall. But, the balance of authorities is de- 
cidedly in favour of the latter conjecture ; and it may be 
assumed as an historical fact, that the country of Arthur's 
nativity was also the scene of his death, — 



* For a translation of the Triad, in which these acts of mutual violence 
are recorded, see the Cambro-Briton, vol. ii. p. 50. 

t The works of Taliesin and the Triads abound in notices of this event. 
See the Cambro-Briton, vol. i. p. 204. and vol. ii. pp. 218 and 435. Leland, 
Camden, and the generality of English writers, have also arrived at the same 
conclusion. 



14 

As though no other place in Britain's spacious earth 
Were worthy of his end but where he had his birth*. 

This battle is described to have been of a most sangui- 
nary nature, and, according to the Triads, three only sur- 
vived its destructive ravagesf. But, although the names 
of these survivors are particularly specified, it is safer to 
presume that there is some degree of exaggeration in the 
statement, which may merely be meant to denote the deso- 
lating consequences of the conflict. However, be this as it 
may, the traitor Medrod suffered, on this occasion, the pe- 
nalty so justly due to his perfidious conduct. He fell on 
the field, but not before his illustrious and injured rival had 
also received his death-wound, and that, according to some 
accounts, from the very hand of his treacherous kinsman. 
It is also recorded in the Triads, that the fatal issue of this 
battle, as it concerned Arthur, was chiefly owing to an im- 
politic division, or exchange, that he made of his forces 
with Medrod J; thereby weakening his own army, and giv- 
ing proportionate strength to that of the enemy. Thus fell 
the British chieftain, and bis fall was a main cause of acce- 
lerating the overthrow of the ancient Britons, or Cymry, 
as an independent nation. The power of the Saxons ap- 
pears from this period gradually to have increased, until the 
primitive inhabitants were, at length, deprived of their 



* Drayton, in his Polyolbion. Among the few writers who have declared 
their scepticism on this point, is Carte in his History of England, who places 
Camlan at Kirby Lonsdale, in Westmoreland. The current of authorities, 
however, is in favour of the situation here adopted ; and the battle is sup- 
posed to have been fought near Camelford, on the banks of the Camel of 
Alan, anciently, accordingly to Camden, called Camblan, an opinion, which 
Leland appears previously to have espoused. 

f See the Cambro-Briton, vol. ii. p. 385. t Id. ib. p. 49. 



15 

ancient dominion, which was ultimately contracted within 
the mountain barriers of Wales. 

The interment of Arthur at Glastonbury, to which place 
his body is said to have been conveyed immediately from 
the fatal field of Camlan, and the subsequent discovery of 
his tomb in the reign of Henry II. are not perhaps such 
events as should be admitted, in an unqualified manner, 
into a narrative which aims at retaining only what has some 
pretension to historical truth. The confidence, however, 
with which the latter circumstance is detailed by Giraldus, 
a writer certainly of some credit, and who describes himself 
as speaking from ocular demonstration, deserves that it 
should not be entirely disregarded. According to this 
account, then, Henry II., having heard, whilst in Wales # , of 
an ancient tradition concerning Arthur's burial between two 
stone pillars at Glastonbury, caused search to be made on 
the spot, when a flat stone was discovered about seven feet be- 
neath the surface, having attached to its lower side a leaden 
cross with the following inscription : — 



ARTHURIUS IN INSULA AVALONIA. 

The characters, according to the facsimile given of them 
by Camden, are of a rude and Gothic form, and are not, 
from their peculiar construction, to be assigned, without 
much difficulty, to the age in which Arthur lived. How- 
ever, the inscription is regarded by Leland f as well as Gi- 



* It was while on a visit to Kilgaran Castle, in Pembrokeshire, that Henry 
is said to have received this intelligence. 

t Leland, in speaking of the cross, which he appears to have handled 
with a superstitious rapture, says of it — " quam ego curiosissimis content- 
platus cum oculis et solicitis contrectavi articulis, motus et antiquitate rei et 
dignitate." — It may here be proper to observe, that the authority of Leland, 



16 

raldus, both of whom saw it, as a genuine memorial of the 
hero, whose name it bears. 

Besides the inscription, and about nine feet lower, the 
presumed remains of Arthur were also discovered, inclosed 
in the trunk of an oak tree. They presented bones of an 
extraordinary magnitude, indicating the almost gigantic 
stature of the individual to whom they had belonged* ; and 
on the skull were the still visible vestiges of ten wounds, 
one of them from its greater size and more gaping appear- 
ance, supposed to be that which had caused his death. 
Near this rude coffin was another of a similar description, 
which was conjectured, from some yellow female hair that 
was found in it, to contain the remains of one of Arthur's 
wives. 

Such is, briefly, the narrative, which Giraldus supplies 
of this remarkable incident, and to which, it is scarcely 
necessary to add, he seems to have given implicit credit. 
That he actually saw the inscription, and the reputed bones 
of Arthur is unquestionable ; and whatever delusion may 
belong to the circumstance is not to be ascribed originally 
to Giraldus. He merely reports what he saw ; and what 
he reports he seems conscientiously to have regarded as 
free from any deception. He was, perhaps, too much of a 
patriot to scrutinize, with any degree of scepticism, an oc- 
currence so gratifying to his national prepossessions. The 
last earthly relics of his renowned countryman were, appa- 
rently, before him, and, dazzled by the spectacle, he suf- 
fered the improbabilities of the case to be overbalanced by 



however occasionally worthy of credit, is in general to he received with 
much caution. The Assertio Arturii is, in fact, a mixture of some truth 
with almost all that is fabulous in the life of the British champion. 

* Giraldus says, that the shin-bone, placed by the leg of a very tall man, 
rose the breadth of three fingers above his kuee. 



17 

the interesting associations, which forced themselves on his 
mind. He did not reflect, that six centuries had fully 
closed their destructive career since the remains of Arthur 
had been consigned to their silent abode; and the great 
probability that in so long a period some earlier discovery 
must have been made, if Glastonbury had been traditionally 
known to be the place of the chieftain's interment, had, we 
may conclude, no share of his consideration. Nor did he 
perhaps call to mind, that none of the bards of Arthur's 
time that survived his fall, and some of whom were on terms 
of intimacy with him, have any historical notice of his in- 
terment ; whilst, on the contrary, Taliesin distinctly alludes 
to it as "a mystery of the world," which seems to indi- 
cate, at least, the uncertainty in which the circumstance 
was involved in that age. Nor is the solution of this 
" mystery" a matter at present of any moment, even if it 
were possible; but all vestiges of the tomb and its sa- 
cred deposit have long ago vanished*. We must, there- 
fore, be content to trace them, as we can, in the account of 
Giraldus, which, however exposed to suspicion, deserves, 
from the currency it has obtained in the world, that it should 
not be rejected as altogether unworthy of notice. 

In addition to the main incidents in the life of Arthur 



* These disputed remains were removed, by the order of Henry, to the 
great church of Glastonbury, and were there enshrined in a splendid marble 
tomb, which was afterwards, in the reign of Edward I., placed before the 
high altar. Here it remained until the furious and undiscriminatiDg zeal of 
Henry VIII. overthrew the religious houses and all that they contained. 
Mr. Whitaker, author of the History of Manchester, was at Glastonbury, 
and saw, as he tells us, the two pillars, which originally stood near the 
grave of Arthur, and which were then appropriated to some common use. 
But, how could he have been satisfied as to their identity j or, if he was, 
what did it prove ? 

C 



18 

already recorded, the Triads and ancient Welsh poems 
have several miscellaneous notices respecting him, to which 
it may be proper to advert. We learn from these, that his 
three chief places of residence were in Wales, Cornwall, 
and the North of England ; between which, in all probabi- 
lity, his time was divided, as the exigency of his affairs re- 
quired his presence at one place or the other. His court, 
according to the same authority, was the grand resort of 
the valour and beauty of his dominions ; for the Triads have 
preserved the names of several warriors and distinguished 
females, that usually formed a part of it. And it may be 
right here to remark, that neither in these national docu- 
ments, nor in any other of an authentic character, is their 
the slightest allusion to the celebrated order of the Round 
Table, which, indeed, has long been rejected as a mere 
creature of romance. That Arthur was attached to the 
fair sex may be inferred from the testimony of the same 
ancient records ; for the names of four of his wives have 
descended to us, as well as those of three other females 
that lived with him in a less honourable character*. He 
had a sister, who has been before incidentally noticed ; and 
the names of three of his sons, Llechau, Noe, and Morgant, 
are to be collected from different sources ; but of Llechau 
alone are there any certain memorials. He is recorded in 
the Triads as having devoted himself to scientific pursuits, 
and, more particularly, to those of Natural History, in 
which he is said to have eminently excelled^. But he 
does not appear, on this account, to have been less atten- 
tive to his duties as a warrior and a patriot ; for he fell, 



* The Triads, in which the foregoing particulars are to be found, are 
translated in the third volume of the Cambro-Britorif p. 387 to 394. 
f See the Cambro-Briton, vol. ii. p. 242. 



19 

fighting against the enemies of his country, in the battle of 
Llongborth already adverted to, in which his father com- 
manded. 

The fame of Arthur must continue chiefly to rest, as it 
hitherto has, upon his military celebrity; but it appears 
from the Triads, that he also aspired to a more tranquil 
sort of renown. For he is numbered among the " irregular 
bards of the isle of Britain," in consequence of the incom- 
patibility of the bardic profession, as anciently existing in 
this island, with the general tenour of Arthur's occupations*. 
This, together with the patronage he afforded to his bardic 
contemporaries, and especially to Merddin and Llywarch 
Hen, sufficiently indicates his partiality to poetical pursuits, 
however he may have wanted the necessary leisure or 
talent to cultivate them to advantage. One triplet only, as- 
cribed to him, has survived the wreck of time ; and, from 
the simplicity of its structure, it seems to have the character- 
istics of a genuine composition. It merely designates, with- 
out any effort at poetical ornament, his three " chief battle- 
horsemen," a theme, it must be allowed, by no means un- 
likely to have employed the strains of a warriorf. 

Such was the renowned British hero, divested of the 
splendid apparel in which the votaries of romance have 
been wont to exhibit him. That he was a brave and skilful 
commander is evident from the concurrence of the most 
respectable testimony; and, no doubt, his exploits and 
example contributed materially to the success with which 
his countrymen often opposed the assaults of the Saxons. 
But, on the other hand, it must be admitted, that the civil 



* Id. ib. p. 437. 

t See vol. i. of the same work, p. 248, for the Triad containing this 
triplet or englyn. 



c 2 



20 

dissensions amonst the Britons themselves, in which he 
was occasionally engaged, may have had the effect of neu- 
tralizing, in some degree, the advantages he had gained 
over the common enemy ; yet, this may justly he regarded 
as the fault less of the man than of the age. It was an 
era, in which the dark and unsocial qualities of our nature 
appear to have been particularly predominant, and when 
the reputation of a hero was to be sought, not in the exer- 
cise of the peaceful virtues, but in rushing on, as the tem- 
pest urged, from slaughter to slaughter, reckless of the 
load of death and ruin that might fill his sanguinary career*. 
It is enough, that, under such circumstances, the fame of 
Arthur has descended to us, not only unsullied by the im- 
putation of any gross excesses, but as that of a distinguished 
and gallant assertor of the liberties of his country against 
the growing torrent, by which they were eventually over- 
whelmed. 



* This characteristic of those turbulent times may account for the epithet 
of u blood-stained warrior," which is given Arthur in the Triads, where he is 
also, however, more than once celebrated for his bravery. 



21 



ANEURIN. 

Before we enter upon the memoir of Aneurin, one of 
the most eminent of the ancient Welsh bards, it is neces- 
sary that we should take a cursory view of the nation to 
which he belonged. It might otherwise appear extraordi- 
nary, that one, whose birth and lineage are to be traced to 
the northern parts of Britain, should be numbered among 
those, who, by their genius or conduct, have shed a lustre 
upon the annals of Wales. 

According to the earliest Welsh records, whether in 
poetry or prose, which we have of this island, its first or 
aboriginal inhabitants were the Cymry, who are to be iden- 
tified with the Cimbri and Cimmerii of the Roman and 
Greek historians*. They are described as having emi- 
grated from Asia at a very remote period ; but the precise 
date of the event is now necessarily involved in an impene- 
trable obscurity. This primitive colonization was followed 
by other settlements made at various times, previous to the 
Roman invasion; and among which were those of the 
Loegrians, the Brython, the Coranians, and Belgae, the 
last of them, in all probability, about three centuries before 



* For the Triads, which record the first peopling of this island by the 
Cymry, see the Cambro-Briton, vol. i. p. 45-7, and vol. ii. p. 97. The 
course taken by the Cymry in their progress to Europe, as marked out in 
these Triads, may be compared with similar accounts given of the advances 
of the Cimmerii and Cimbri by Herodotus, Strabo, Dionysius, Pliny, and 
other writers. A collection of the various statements, by which the authen- 
ticity of the Welsh records might be established, would far exceed the 
bounds of a note. Some judicious remarks on the subject may be seen in 
the Cambrian Register, vol. i. p. 13, &c. 



22 

our era # . These successive incursions had the natural 
effect of forcing the original colonists into the interior of 
the island, which, accordingly, Caesar describes, upon his 
arrival, as being inhabited by a people, whom he distin- 
guishes as indigenousf. By the invasion of the Romans, 
and afterwards by that of the Saxons, the Cymry were 
again compelled to retreat, which, we may presume, they 
did gradually until they finally settled in the extreme parts 
of the island. Hence, in the sixth century, we find Wales, 
Cornwall, and the North to be occupied by kindred tribes 
under one general denomination; and whose resistance to 
the Saxon arms in each of these places is expressly re- 
corded ; whilst the other parts of the island, south of the 
Tweed, had fallen under the dominion of the invaders, 
with whom the more ancient settlers in the same places, 
with some few exceptions perhaps, had become incorpo- 
rated J. The Cymry alone maintained, at the period 
adverted to, any thing like an independent existence and 
character ; and, however dispersed, they are to be regarded 
only as one nation, having not merely an identity of name, 
but a general affinity of manners and language. Such are 
the circumstances, that have caused the poets of North 
Britain, before its subjection to the Saxons, to be claimed 



* See the Cambro-Brilon, vol. i. p. 47-50, for the Triads which comme. 
morate the various settlements here noticed. 

f Bell. Gall. lib. v. c. 12. V 

t Taliesin, in one of his poems (Gwawd Lludd Mawr\ alludes to three na- 
tions, besides the Cymry and Saxons, as inhabiting this country in the sixth 
century. These he denominates Eingyl, Gwyddyl, and Prydyn, Angles, 
Gwyddelians, and Britons, all of whom appear to have been at that time 
associated with the Saxons. It appears also from the same poem, that the 
language of the Cymry consisted then of four dialects, probably those of 
North Wales, South Wales, North Britain, and Cornwall. 



23 

by the natives of Wales, who are the only surviving de- 
scendants of that primitive race, by which both countries 
were anciently peopled. 

Among these poets Aneurin, from the length and cele- 
brity of his principal work, deserves the first rank. He 
was the son of Caw ab Geraint, styled also the lord of Cwm 
Cawlwyd, a chieftain of that portion of North Britain, in- 
cluding the present Northumberland, to whose inhabitants 
the name of Ottadini was anciently given*. Our bard was 
born at the commencement of the sixth century, and was one 
of a numerous progeny, among whom Gildas, well known 
as a writer of that period, is also to be numbered, if indeed 
Gildas and Aneurin be not, as has been surmised, different 
names for the same individual. But the asperity, with 
which Gildas speaks of the bards, is by no means in favour 
of this hypothesis, however plausible the reasons by which 
it may be supported*)-. 

Of the early years of Aneurin we have no certain ac- 
count ; but it is probable, from the character of the times, 
that they were devoted to the cultivation of that martial 
spirit, which was soon to be called into action against the 
enemies of his country. For, when arrived, as we may 
presume, at the age of manhood, we find him opposed, with 



* The name of Ottadini appears to be derived from Gododini, implying, in 
Welsh, a people that inhabit a region bordering on the coverts, which is 
descriptive of the country in question. 

t The chief grounds alleged for this supposition are two. First, that 
Aneurin and Gildas, although both mentioned as the children of Caw, do 
not occur in the same lists; but that, where Gildas appears, Aneurin is 
omitted, and vice versd,. Secondly, that Gildas seems to be no more than a 
translation of Aneurin, as Pelagius of Morgan, and some other instances. 
There is much ingenuity in this conjecture ; but the fact, mentioned in the 
text, makes it difficult to believe, that Gildas could have been a poet, as 
Aneurin undoubtedly was. 



24 

the rest of his countrymen, to the Saxons in the disastrous 
conflict of Cattraeth, which forms the subject of his prin- 
cipal poem. The Britons, on this occasion, were com- 
manded by Urien Rheged, a celebrated warrior of that 
day, and must have been in considerable force, since Aneur- 
in alludes to three hundred and sixty-three as wearing the 
golden torques, an emblem, no doubt, of their preeminent 
rank or high military distinction*. They were, probably, 
so many independent chieftains, who, according to the 
custom of the times, as we learn from the Triads, were at- 
tended to the field by their particular retinuesf. This 
battle was fought on the coast of Northumberland;}; about 
the year 540, and proved fatal to the Britons, owing, it ap- 
pears, to their inebriated condition when they took the 
field ; and in consequence of which three chieftains only, 



* The old bards make frequent allusion to this eustom of wearing the 
golden wreath ; and we learn from Dio Cassius, that such an ornament was 
worn by Boadicea. The practice must have been preserved amongst the 
Cymry for some ages, as Llywelyn, a Welsh chieftain of the twelfth cen- 
tury, owed to it, no doubt, the epithet of Aurdorchog, (Torquatus,) by which 
he is known. One of these ancient insignia was found in 1692 at Harlech 
in Merionethshire ; and two others have been discovered of late years, one 
at Dolau Cothi in Carmarthenshire, and the other near Caerwys in the 
county of Flint. Nor was this custom confined to the ancient Britons ; for 
Propertius tells us, that Britomartus, a chieftain of the Gauls, was thus dis- 
tinguished. And it appears from a passage in Daniel (ch. v. v. 7 and 29) ? 
that a chain of gold was, in his time, a mark of high rank in Babylon. 

f See the Cambro-Briton, vol. ii. p. 337, for a Triad, enumerating three 
of these retinues, and one of which fought in the battle of Cattraeth. 
Aneurin reckons the number of combatants on this occasion at more than 
five hundred thousand : and, when we consider that the whole north was, 
at this period, confederated against the Saxons, this number, however in- 
credible, may not be greatly exaggerated. We all know what immense 
armies Boadicea had raised against the Romans four centuries earlier. 

$ The name of Cattraeth, (apparently derived from cad and traeth, the 
Battle-Strand,) and the numerous allusions in the Gododin, seem to leave 
no doubt that the conflict took place on the sea-coast. 



25 

out of the number above alluded to, escaped the general 
slaughter. History does not inform us who the Saxon 
commander was upon this occasion ; but there are reasons 
for supposing, that it was the celebrated Ida, who is known 
to have had several contests with the Britons in that part 
of the kingdom. 

Although Aneurin had the good fortune to survive the 
dreadful carnage of Cattraeth, he was not entirely exempted 
from the evils incident to a battle; for we find from his 
own authority, that he was taken prisoner by the enemy and 
treated, during his captivity, with extreme rigour. Loaded 
with chains, he was thrown into a gloomy dungeon, where 
he appears to have languished, for some time, in consider- 
able torture* ; and he would, in all probability, have sunk 
under his sufferings, if fortune had not sent to his aid a 
friend and fellow warrior. This was Cenau, a son of the 
venerable bard Llywarch Hen, who rescued Aneurin from 
his imprisonment, and has received, in the grateful strains 
of the poet, the meed of his generous valour. For the 
latter thus adverts to this interesting event : — 

From the power of the sword, (noble was the succour), 
From the cruel prison house of earth he released me, 
From the place of death, from the cheerless region, 
He, Cenau, son of Llywarch, magnanimous and brave. 

Whilst the poet thus records the generosity of his friend, 



* The following is the passage, in which the poet briefly alludes to his 
treatment on this occasion : — 

' Pierced were the soles of my feet, 
Lacerated was my knee, 
In the house of earth, 
With a chain^f iron around my knees. 

This can only have reference to a close and cruel incarceration. 



26 

he, with a true poetical feeling, ascribes the preservation 
of his own life in the battle, like Horace on a similar occa- 
sion, to the sacred character of his muse. For, after enu- 
merating the three chieftains, who had survived the conflict, 
he observes, " and I too was saved from the shedding of 
my blood, as the recompence of my fair song." 

The calamitous issue of the battle of Cattraeth appears 
to have been the death-blow of the Britons, or Cymry, in 
that part of the island. Their chieftains, deprived of their 
territory, sought, in a precipitate exile, the safety no longer 
to be found in their native land. Among these the father 
of Aneurin, with such of his family as had been spared by 
the troubles of the times, fled to Wales. He and some of 
his sons settled in the island of Anglesey, where lands were 
allotted to them by Maelgwn, at that time prince of North 
Wales, and holding the nominal sovereignty of Britain; 
and in this retreat, enjoying the friendship and hospitality 
of a kindred people, they spent the remainder of their 
days. 

Aneurin, accompanied by such of his brothers as did not 
choose to remain with their father, retired to South Wales, 
where he is said to have experienced from Arthur a gene- 
rous welcome, accordant with the character of that prince. 
It does not appear, however, that he became, for any time, 
a resident at Arthur's court ; but on the contrary we learn 
from some ancient documents, that he took refuge among 
the inmates of Cadog's college at Llancarvan, apparently 
the favoured resort of the piety and learning of that age. 
Here it was, in all probability, that he contracted that in- 
timacy with the celebrated Taliesin, to which both bards 
bear testimony*, and which the congeniality of their genius 



See the Cambro-Briton, vol. i. p. 93. 



27 

and disposition must have favoured in a peculiar de- 
gree : — 

Arcades ambo, 



Et cantare pares. 



The same passage in Aneurin, that records this friendship 
between the two poets, seems also to indicate that the Go- 
dodin, his chief production, was composed in the propi- 
tious seclusion of Cadog's college ; for he distinctly men- 
tions Taliesin's privity to his intention of writing this poem*. 
And, indeed, the dispersion of the Britons, which must so 
speedily have followed the decisive battle of Cattraeth, could 
have left him neither leisure nor inclination to " build the 
lofty rhyme" to the memory of his country's disasters before 
his arrival in Wales. The tranquillity, which he must have 
enjoyed in his monastic retirement, naturally favoured the 
project. It was there, that, after the agitation of his feel- 
ings and the violence of his griefs had subsided, he was 
enabled, for the first time, to retrace with calmness the 
melancholy vestiges of the past. Indulging in the * luxury 
of woe," he delighted, perhaps, to dwell on the misfortunes 
in which he had so largely participated ; or it may have been, 
that he sought, in his poetical inspirations, that solace for 
his sorrows, which the muse rarely fails to impart. Such 
may have been the circumstances that gave birth to the 
Gododin ; and we may fairly presume that similar pursuits 
employed the time of the bard during his residence at 
Llancarvan. How long he remained there we have no 
means of knowing, but, most probably, during the residue 
of his life. His death was occasioned, about the year 570, 
by the blow of an axe from the hand of an assassin, whom 



* id. ib. 



28 

the Triads have consigned to infamy for this act of atro- 
city*. 

Whatever may have been the devotion which Aneurin 
paid to his muse, no more than two productions, under his 
name, have descended to us ; and one only of these bears 
internal evidence of its genuineness. This is the Gododin, 
already noticed in the progress of the foregoing memoir ; 
and even this is obviously in a mutilated and imperfect state. 
But it is still the longest and most important of all the an- 
cient Welsh poems; and no account of Aneurin can be 
complete, that does not embrace an inquiry into its more 
remarkable characteristics. 

It may first be proper, however, to take a general view 
of the prominent traits of Welsh poetry, which distinguish 
it, in so essential a manner, from that of all other countries, 
ancient or modern. There is nothing, indeed, in the whole 
history of Welsh literature more singular than this peculia- 
rity of its mountain muse, and which has, no doubt, de- 
terred many from paying her the same homage, that has 
been vouchsafed to her sisters in other parts of the globe. 
The eccentricity of her attire has had, at first sight, it 
would appear, a sort of repulsive effect, which few have 
afterwards endeavoured to overcome. 

There can be no discredit in admitting that the poetry 
of Wales can boast of nothing to compete with the more 
celebrated productions of other countries. In vain should 
we look in it for the uniform sublimity which ennobles the 
strains of Homer, — for the unbending majesty, and elegant 
propriety, of the Virgilian sentiments,— or for the regular 
and well-sustained flight of Pope's philosophic muse. The 



* Cambro-Briton, vol. ii. p. 10. 



29 

true characteristics of Welsh poetry are of a nature essen- 
tially different ; not that it is not often pregnant with glow- 
ing thought, with dignified sentiments, with tender feeling, 
and with fine moral sense ; but it rarely, if ever, happens, 
that the Welsh poet holds " the even tenour of his way" in 
one uninterrupted strain, whether of sublimity or of pathos. 
It is the irregular flash, the coruscation, of genius, rather 
than its full and steady blaze, that imparts a splendour to 
the awen* of Wales ; and hence it is, that the country is 
far more likely to supply rivals to Pindar or Gray than to 
Milton or Lucretius. And the lyric excellence of some of 
its poetry, especially the more ancientf , forms a practical 
illustration of this hypothesis. 

But, because the Welsh bards may have produced no- 
thing to equal the height of " Greek or Roman fame," we 
are not rashly to conclude that their strains possess no fea- 
tures, that can interest or delight. What has been said of 
the inferior poets of Greece may, in a more general sense, 
be justly applied to them : — 

Non si priores MaEonius tenet 
Sedes Homerus, Pindarieae latent 
Ceaeque, &c. 

For, although they have not mounted to the very pinnacle 
of poetical renown, it is not to be concluded that they lie 



* Awen is the word employed, in Welsh, to denote poetical genius : it 
means literally a flow of mind, or inspiration. The Poetical Triads contain a 
fine definition of genius, which it would be difficult to surpass. It is this : — 
" an eye that can see nature, a heart that can feel nature, and a resolution that 
dares follow nature." Johnson's laboured definition seems much inferior. 

t Among these the Odes of Gwalchmai, a poet of the twelfth century, 
stand pre-eminent ; and of which the muse of Gray has furnished the 
English reader with some spirited imitations. 



30 

grovelling at the base of the column. Nor, because they 
refuse allegiance to the power generally acknowledged 
within the territory of the muses, are they to be regarded 
as mere literary outlaws subject to no government, and 
bound by no legal restraint. We ought rather to admire 
the spirit, with which they have emancipated themselves 
from the sovereignty of Parnassus, and maintained, through 
so many centuries, the integrity of their republican inde- 
pendence. 

Among the general causes, to which the peculiar attri- 
butes of Welsh poetry are to be traced, may be noticed, in 
the first place, the singular institution of Bardism, formerly 
existing among the Cymry, and which appears to have 
grown out of the still more ancient system ascribed to the 
Druids. The Bards, indeed, composed, originally, one of 
the orders of the Druidical institution ; and when, in pro- 
cess of time, that political fabric was deprived of its primi- 
tive importance, they seem to have formed themselves into 
a distinct association. Some memorials of the regulations, 
to which this new institution was subject, as well as of their 
singular tenets, still survive; but they are, for the most 
part, so interpolated with the metaphysical subtleties of 
later times, that it is scarcely possible to distinguish the 
genuine from the spurious*. Enough, however, remains 
to shew, that poetry formed an especial object of the care 
and cultivation of the Bards, whose name has, accordingly, 
become synonymous with the sons of song. Hence the art 
was submitted to a strict discipline and a peculiar system of 
rules ; and it cannot be deemed surprising, if the earlier 
effusions of the Welsh poets were also impregnated with 



* For some of these Triads, see the Cambro-Briton, vol. ii, pp. 100, 290, 
aud 289. 



31 

the mystical doctrines of Bardism, as, indeed, may be 
proved to have been the case from some compositions still 
extant*. The Bards, thus regarding poetry as a necessary 
part of their institution, were naturally desirous of render- 
ing it an appropriate medium of the doctrinal or historical 
lore, which they thus treasured. To this it must be, in a 
great measure, ascribed, that Welsh poetry combines a 
richer store of metres than was, perhaps, ever known to 
that of any other nation, and which have been progressively 
increased, by the refinements of subsequent times, to the 
number of twenty-four. These are all dependent on a 
certain principle of alliteration, called cynghanedd^, which, 
being peculiar to Welsh prosody, invests the strains, over 
which it presides, with a certain original air, not easily to 
be explained to any ignorant of the Welsh tongue. But 
the influence of the Bardic institution on the ancient poetry 
of Wales was not confined to its metrical embellishment. 
It was also productive of a more essential and a more ho- 
nourable distinction in the love of truth, which it inculcated 
in its votaries. For " the truth against the world" was not 
only a favourite axiom of the Bards, but was also adopted 
as the motto of the order, and the vital principle of its 
proceedings J; and, by a natural transition, it became a 
predominant feature of their poetical productions. For 



* This is peculiarly observable in some of the poems of Taliesin. 

f The alliteration, implied by this word, must not be confounded with 
what is commonly understood by the English term. The Welsh word may 
be periphrastically rendered " an alliteral symphony of certain words govern- 
ed by metrical rules, and tending to the general harmony of the poem." 

t Thus, according to the Institutional Triads of Bardism, " to make truth 
manifest, and to diffuse the knowledge of it," is numbered among the attri- 
butes of the Bards ; and the Poetical 
" pure truth" as one of the three purities of poetry. 



32 

this reason it is, that, in matters of history, the poets have 
always been consulted as the faithful chroniclers of their 
times, while, by a singular contrast, the oldest prose com- 
positions are regarded, for the most part, as the mere 
vehicles of romance and of fiction. This inversion of the 
ordinary character of the respective species of writing is, 
perhaps, peculiar to Wales. 

Another and a material source of the native originality of 
the Cambrian muse is to be found in the particular charac- 
teristics of the Welsh language. Its oriental extraction, the 
copious significance of its simple terms, with the facilities 
resulting from the combination of these, added to the gram- 
matical structure of the language, have conspired to enhance 
this distinction by means of the various and novel sources of 
rhythmical harmony, which they have created. From this 
combination of accidents it has resulted, that the poetry of 
Wales, and more particularly that of ancient times, conveys 
to the ear of a person, uninformed of its peculiar properties, 
something unintelligible and obscure. And any attempt to 
explain it through the medium of a literal translation must 
necessarily prove unsatisfactory, as wanting those aids 
which give to the original the greatest portion of its beauty 
and energy. Nor is it possible, even in a poetical version, 
to preserve all the sententious brevity, with the sudden 
transitions and occasional boldness of figurative expression, 
peculiar to the muse of the Cymry. 

A third general cause of the literary phenomenon under 
discussion, and in sgme degree connected with the one last 
noticed, is the alliance that has ever existed between the 
songs of the bard and the strains of the musician. This 
has been the natural consequence of the harmonious pro- 
perties, already adverted to as inherent in the Welsh tongue. 
Hence arose the national custom of singing with the harp, 



33 

known in Wales from time immemorial, and not yet ex- 
tinct. The prevalence of this practice has, no doubt, 
contributed greatly to the formation of that rigid code of 
laws, by which Welsh poetry is governed, and may have 
occasioned certain metrical symphonies to be studied at the 
expense of those loftier aspirations, that confer dignity and 
immortality on the effusions of the muse. A desire to in- 
struct the mind, or to delight the fancy, seems generally to 
have had less influence on the poet than an anxiety to pour 
his fascinations upon the ear. 

Such is the concurrence of causes, that seems to have 
rendered the poetry of Wales less the poetry of thought 
than of expression. For, although the bard may appear 
occasionally to emancipate himself, with all the instinctive- 
ness of genius, from the shackles which impede his flight, 
there are still certain bounds which he finds himself unable 
to pass. The light of inspiration may illumine for a while, 
but it is speedily contracted within the magical circle by 
which his muse is beset. All this communicates to Welsh 
poetry, it cannot be denied, a sort of laboured and artificial 
character, which seems inconsistent with those higher and 
more alluring qualities that ought to belong to it. Yet it 
is not without its redeeming virtues. For, independent of 
its metrical beauties so unrivalled in their variety, it pos- 
sesses that vigorous terseness of thought and expression, 
which was anciently common to the poetry of the East. 
It displays also much splendid imagery, and, if it may want 
the regular charms of design and execution, that distinguish 
the more eminent productions of the muse, it is not without 
those vivid bursts, that indicate the gifted minds of its vo- 
taries. But, above all, it lays claim to a high historical 
character, which communicates a peculiar value to the more 
ancient remains, and would alone justify the estimation, in 

D 



si 

which they have ever been held by the admirers of Welsh 
literature. 

Among these intellectual relics, the Gododin of Aneurin 
has ever held the first rank, and yet not so much for its 
poetical merit, as for its historical details, the more valuable 
because the internal proofs of its genuineness are of so de- 
cisive a character. It does not indeed, like the classical 
effusions of Greece and Rome, or even like the reputed 
productions of Ossian, contain a well-contrived fable, em- 
bellished with all the artful colourings of the muse. It has 
no regular design, no definite object ; and, least of all, does 
it aim at flattering the national prepossessions of those, 
to whom it may be supposed to have been addressed. On 
the contrary, the subject, chosen by the poet, is, in the 
highest degree, reproachful to the character of his country- 
men : he sings of a disastrous defeat, which they had sus- 
tained, and that too owing to their inordinate indulgence 
in a low and degrading propensity. This is surely the 
very last theme, that would have suggested itself for the 
purposes of imposture : it was scarcely calculated to excite 
attention, much less admiration. In a word, it is just such 
a subject as an artless writer, having no desire but to re- 
port what he saw, may be presumed to have adopted ; and 
the genuineness of the Gododin, as a work of the sixth cen- 
tury, might be left with security to rest on this ground 
alone. 

But this is not all : the style of the poem, the language 
in which it is written, and the incidents which it records, 
are so many positive testimonies to its genuine character. 
It was the offspring of an age, be it remembered, which, in 
comparison with those that gave birth to the Iliad and 
iEneid, cannot but be deemed barbarous ; and it must not, 
therefore, be placed by the side of the renowned master- 



35 

pieces of the Maeonian and Maiituan bards. Whatever 
may have been the original form of the Gododin, it pre- 
sents now little more than a collection of elegiac and 
encomiastic strains on the heroes, who fell in a certain bat- 
tle, in which the poet was also engaged. The style is, like 
the subject, devious and irregular, and may be likened to 
an assemblage of mountain oaks in their native rudeness 
and disorder, rather than to the stately and well ordered 
forest that owes its grandeur to the care and cultivation of 
man. Hence the poem is marked more by the bursts of 
feeling and energy of expression, which it occasionally dis- 
plays, than by any regular luxuriance or dignity of style. It 
may rather be considered, in the words of an ingenious 
writer*, as so many " poetic memoranda of a disastrous con- 
flict, penned by a friend who had witnessed its events in all 
the confusion in which they had occurred* than a well-con- 
ceived and artfully arranged series of individual conflicts, 
like the poem of Homer, which, though genuine as to the 
author, yet contains incidents which the poet's invention 
has arranged as it pleased." But the Gododin is genuine, 
not only as to its author, but also as to its subject : it is in 
short a poetical record of a train of calamities, which the 
bard himself witnessed, and under the influence of which 
he may almost be said to have written. Hence that undis- 
guised simplicity, that vivid freshness of style, which com- 
municates to the poem its most prominent and most attract- 
ive characteristics. 

The language is evidently that of a remote age, and, al- 
though intelligible in its general construction to the Welsh 

* Mr. Turner in his " Vindication of the ancient Welsh Bards," p. 212. 
This work is, unquestionably, the ablest defence ever offered of the genu- 
ineness of the poetical remains of Wales, and entitles the author to the gra- 
titude of the nation, in whose cause he has volunteered his talents. 

D2 



36 

scholar of the present day, contains many words no longer 
in ordinary use. It abounds too in those dialectical distinc- 
tions, that were peculiar to the Cymry of North Britain, 
and is marked, moreover, by the adoption of many com- 
pound terms, particularly in use among the poets of the 
sixth century, but of which subsequent ages have furnished 
comparatively but few examples. 

The calamitous incidents, recorded in the Gododin, are 
also strong proofs of its genuineness ; for, independent of 
their general consistency with the character of that turbu- 
lent age, many of them are corroborated by the testimony 
of the Triads and of contemporary bards. It is worthy of 
remark too, with reference to this point, that they are such 
events as were very likely to call forth the particular emo- 
tions evinced by the writer, when they had taken place, as 
it were, under his eye. Accordingly, he details what he had 
seen, not merely as a poet but as a man, as it was presented 
to his feelings not to his imagination. Above all, he dwells 
with a sort of restless anxiety upon the disgraceful cause of 
these complicated disasters, — the inebriety of his country- 
men, — and speaks of it in such a manner, as one who had wit- 
nessed its effects, and had suffered from them, and such a 
one only, was likely to do. It is the language of nature, ex- 
pressing, without embellishment and without disguise, the 
mental workings of an individual, deeply affected by the 
calamity and disgrace in which he had participated. 

Such are the leading features of the Gododin, that seem 
to render its reputation unquestionable as a genuine pro- 
duction of the period to which it is ascribed. From what 
has been already said it will be perceived, that it has no 
pretension to the character of an epic poem. It is more 
properly heroic than epic, and is at last but a fragment of 
the original composition, if it be true, as traditionally re- 



37 

lated, that the number of its stanzas corresponded at first 
with the number of chieftains engaged in the battle, who 
have already been incidentally mentioned as amounting to 
three hundred and sixty-three. The poem, as we now have 
it, contains about nine hundred lines, and embraces an in- 
termixture of heroic and lyric verse, but of which the for- 
mer predominates. As before remarked, there is no art 
or method in the conduct of the poem ; it even wants, what 
most probably it never possessed when perfect, a prepara- 
tory exordium or invocation. The poet plunges at once 
into his subject. Like a resolute warrior, he throws him- 
self, without premeditation, into the midst of the battle, and 
sets out " by describing, not his plan or purpose, but one 
of his heroes # ." From this he passes to other similar por- 
traits, devoting, as he proceeds, to his fellow-warriors the 
meed of eulogy or lamentation. His transitions are ac- 
cordingly abrupt and frequent, and his expressions often 
extremely concise, and sometimes even obscure. Yet, how- 
ever deficient the poem may be in the embellishments of 
art, or in the delicacies of contrivance, enough remains to 
vindicate the genius of the bard, and the current celebrity 
of his production. 

The commencement of the Gododin, already alluded to, 
conveying an animated picture of a young warrior, is in the 
lyric measure. The following version will give the English 
reader some notion of it, although it is impossible, even if 
it were desirable, to transfer to the translation the metrical 
distinctions of the original. 

Lo, the yonthj in mind a man, 

Daring in the battle's van ! 

See the splendid warrior's speed 

On his fleet and thick-maned steed, 

* This is also a quotation from the work mentioned in the last note. 



38 

As his buckler, beaming wide, 
Decks the courser's slender side, 
With his steel of spotless mould, 
Ermined vest and spurs of gold. 
Think not, youth, that e'er from me 
Hate or spleen shall flow to thee : 
Nobler meed thy virtues claim, 
Eulogy and tuneful fame. 
Ah ! much sooner comes thy bier 
Than thy nuptial feast, I fear ; 
Ere thou mak'st the foeman bleed, 
Ravens on thy corse shall feed. 
Owain, lov'd companion, friend, 
To birds a prey— is this thy end ? 
Tell me, steed, on what sad plain 
Thy ill-fated lord was slain ? 

The next quotation supplies an example of the full heroic 
verse, in which the poem is chiefly written, though subject 
to the disadvantage of being almost a literal prosaic version. 
The passage contains one of the bard's allusions, already 
noticed, to the intemperance of his countrymen, as the main 
source of the deplorable catastrophe he had undertaken to 
celebrate. 

At Cattraeth's scene of blood, when nois'd by fame, 

Humanity will long bewail the loss ; — 

A powerless throne, a land all desolate. 

Godebog's progeny, a faithful band, 

On biers are borne to glut the yawning grave ; 

Wretched their end, yet true the destiny, 

As sworn to Tudvolch and to Cyvolch proud, — 

That, though by blaze of torch they quaff'd bright mead, 

Though sweet its taste, its curse would long be felt. 

Another stanza, written in the same metre, will perhaps 
be sufficient to give the reader an insight into the Gododin. 
It commemorates a chieftain named Cynon, and is written 
with much natural feeling. 



39 

None made the social hall so free from care 
As gentle Cynon, Clinion's sovereign lord ; 
For highest rank he never proudly strove, 
And whom he once had known he ne'er would slight. 
Yet was his spear keen-pointed, and well knew 
To pierce, with truest aim, th' embattled line. 
Swift flew his steed to meet the hostile storm, 
And death sat on his lance, as, with the dawn, 
He rush'd to war in glory's brilliant day. 

There is something in this passage calculated to awaken 
our classical recollections. It affords, in particular, a pa- 
rallel to some parts of the Iliad, in which the same interest- 
ing allusion to the private qualities of a fallen chief accom- 
panies the commemoration of his heroic virtues ; a feature, 
that may likewise be traced in the strains of the Bard of 
Cona. But the poem of Aneurin, it is hardly necessary to 
repeat, has nothing in common with the general character- 
istics either of the Homeric muse, or of the reputed effu- 
sions of Ossian. Such accidental resemblances, as that here 
noticed, owe their birth to the natural affinities of genius, 
when acting from the impulse of feeling unembarrassed by 
any artificial restraints. 

The other poem, attributed to Aneurin, is entitled 
" Stanzas on the Months*," and is dedicated, as may be 
inferred from the name, to a delineation of the more pro- 
minent features of the respective seasons. These are drawn 
by touches as it were, and in a forcible and picturesque 
manner. But the poem obviously wants those innate evi- 
dences of genuineness, which belong to the Gododin. The 
popular voice, however, has for centuries ascribed both 
productions to the same author, and it is now too late to 
dispute the decree. For this reason, a version of one of 

* The title, in the original, is Englynion y Misoedd, generally, but erro- 
neously, tendered u Odes of the Months." 



40 

these stanzas shall close the specimens of Aneurin's muse. 

It is that in which the month of March is described. The 

translation is literal, without an attempt to give it even the 

appearance of metre. 

In the month of March the vivacity of birds is great, 

And bitterly blows the cold blast o'er the furrows ; 

Yet fair weather shall outlive the foul, 

As anger is more lasting than grief. 

Every living thing is eager to bring forth, 

Every fowl acknowledges its mate: 

All things shall spring up from the ground, 

Save the dead alone, — for strong is his prison. 

The other stanzas are of a similar character, and close, like 
this, with a moral sentiment ; a mode of writing in parti- 
cular favour with the Welsh poets, and owing its origin to 
the Bardic institution, whose instructions were often con- 
veyed in poetical triplets, the first two lines having gene- 
rally some image, illustrative of the aphorism in the last. 

With this we must bring to a conclusion our account of 
the life and poems of Aneurin, whase fame will be cherished 
in Wales as long as the literature of the country continues to 
be an object of interest. And the estimation, in which he 
was formerly held, is sufficiently proved by the epithets that 
have been bestowed on him. Aneurin of the Flowing 
Muse, and Monarch of the Bards*, are the appellations, 
by which he is known in our old writings ; and, as the au- 
thor of the most important relic of ancient Welsh poetry, 
he can scarcely be deemed, even now, unworthy of such a 
distinction. 

* The term bard must here be taken in its popular acceptation, and not 
as having any reference to the ancient institution, of which mention has 
been made in this memoir. For, Aneurin's warlike occupation was directly 
at variance with the fundamental principles of the Bardic system, which in- 
culcated amongst its members the love of peace as one of their first duties. 
Aneurin, then, could have been no bard in this sense of the word. 



41 



TALIESIN. 

Of all the ancient poets of Wales Taliesin has decidedly 
acquired the pre-eminence in popular repute. Both at 
home and abroad this distinction has been conceded to 
him : the partial veneration of his countrymen has found 
an echo in the gratuitous respect of other nations. That 
his memory should be peculiarly endeared to the natives of 
Wales cannot be deemed surprising ; for he was, above all 
his bardic cotemporaries, wholly and emphatically one of 
themselves. Born and educated amongst their mountains, 
he consumed there the taper of life, dedicating to his beloved 
awen his youth, his manhood, and his declining years. To 
Taliesin then belongs pre-eminently the appellation of a 
Welsh bard ; and with his name have been associated those 
national predilections, which embalm for posterity the re- 
nown of illustrious men. 

There is some uncertainty as to the precise period of 
Taliesin's birth ; but, according to the concurrent suffrages 
of our early records and the tradition of the country, his 
life occupied a space of about fifty years during the sixth 
century*. He thus forms a part of that constellation of 
poetical genius, which illumines the first epoch of Welsh 
literature. The account, that we have of the dawn of our 
poet's existence, is of a somewhat romantic character ; for 
the first incident recorded of him, is that he was discovered, 
soon after his birth, in a fishing wear, on the coast of Car- 
digan, belonging to Gwyddno, a petty prince of that part 
of the country. Here, it is related of him, exposed, like 

* According to the received accounts this was from 520 to 570. 



42 

the infant Moses, in a basket or coracle, he was found by 
some fishermen, who carried him to Gwyddno, whose only 
son, Elfin, appears, from that moment, to have taken the 
little foundling under his own immediate protection. What- 
ever truth may belong to this relation, though in itself not 
absolutely incredible, we may at least infer from it, that 
Taliesin was a native of that part of the country, to which 
the tradition has been appropriated. Perhaps, having be- 
come early an orphan, he was charitably received under the 
care of Elfin; and the narrative of his exposure in the 
wear may have been adopted to veil with a romantic inte- 
rest the uncertainty of his parentage*. 

Gwyddno, the father of Elfin, possessed, as already no- 
ticed, a small principality or lordship on the coast of South 
Wales, which was known by the name of Cantrev y Gwael- 
od, the Lowland Hundred. This territory, according to 
the Historical Triads, was destroyed by an inundation in 
the time of Ambrosius, probably about the close of the fifth 
centuryf ; and the calamity is supposed to have reduced 
Gwyddno and his son to the necessity of supporting them- 
selves by the produce of the wear above alluded to. It is 
after the period of this event, whether the account given of 
Taliesin's discovery be true or fabulous, that we must ap- 
parently date his first introduction to Elfin. This connec- 



* The incident here related rests chiefly on the authority of the " Life of 
Taliesin" (Hanes Taliesin), of which a copy may be seen in the Archaiology 
of Wales. It is, for the most part, a mere fabulous compilation. But there 
seems no reason for rejecting it altogether. The foundation may be worthy 
of credit, whatever suspicion may attach itself to the superstructure. 

t For a translation of the Triad, recording this disaster, see the Cambro- 
Briton, vol. i. p. 361. There is also in the Arch, of Wales, vol. i. p. 165, a 
poem on the event, ascribed to Gwyddno himself. The territory, thus 
overwhelmed, is said to have comprised sixteen large fortified towns. Ves- 
tiges of the calamity are still to be traced in the neighbourhood. 



43 

tion appears to have been very propitious to the young bard, 
who, in a poem, entitled " The Consolation of Elfin"*, 
alludes, in a pretended strain of prophecy, to the mutual 
advantages that had been the result of the intimacy. The 
poem is written in the assumed character of an exposed 
orphan, and has been ascribed to an early period after the 
miraculous preservation of the infant bard. The particular 
object of the poem appears to have been to console Elfin 
for an accidental failure in his fishery, by opposing to it the 
benefits that would accrue to him from the future celebrity 
of his foundling. The composition, if genuine, as it has 
ever been considered, proves at once the precocity of the 
young poet's talents, and the cultivation they must have 
received under the auspices of his patron, to whose amiable 
qualities he alludes in terms of delicate gratitude. There 
is also a strain of moral and religious feeling throughout 
the effusion, which indicates that the author's proficiency 
was not confined to his poetical acquirements. 

During the time of Taliesin's residence with Elfin, the 
latter was taken prisoner in the civil commotions, common 
at that period, by his uncle Maelgwn, prince of North 
Wales, and confined in the castle of Deganwy. Upon this 
occasion we find the gratitude of the young bard again 
evinced, in a poem addressed to Maelgwn on behalf of his 
friend and protectory and which appears, from another 
effusionj, to have had the desired effect, in the release of 
Elfin from his captivity. In this poem Taiiesin renews .the 

* See the Cambro-Briton, vol. i. p. 30, for a translation of this poem. 

f This effusion is entitled The Mead Song, (CanuyMedd). The ori- 
ginal is to be found in the Arch, of Wales, vol. i. p. 22. 

t The Song on the Sons of Llyr, (Cerdd am Veib Llyr), Arch, of Wales, 
vol. i. p. 67. There is also an allusion to the same event in p Si of the 
same volume. 



44 

acknowledgment of his obligation to his patron, and alludes, 
in express terms, to some presents he had received from him 
in addition to the enjoyment of liis general friendship and 
hospitality*. It is not improbable, that this tribute of the 
poet's muse was the means of introducing him to Maelgwn, 
with whom he was afterwards in particular favour. 

When Taliesin had ceased, as we may presume, to be 
under the immediate patronage of Elfin, he became a pupil 
of Cadog, at his college in Glamorganshire, where he had 
an opportunity of forming the acquaintance with Aneurin, 
alluded to in the memoir of that bard. About this time 
too, it is likely, he also contracted that intimacy with 
Urien Rheged, a Cumbrian chief, which appears to have 
subsisted during the remainder of their joint lives. Urien 
was one of those warriors, whom the successes of the Picts 
and Saxons in the northern parts of the island had driven 
fugitives into Wales ; and, even in his exile, he seems to 
have evinced the same liberal patronage of the bards, for 
which he was distinguished in his native land. Taliesin, 
among others, experienced his countenance and friendship, 
and has addressed several poems to him, in which he cele- 
brates the warlike fame of his new patron, and enumerates 
the battles he had fought. In one of these effusions he 
alludes to his own residence near the lake of Ceirionydd, in 
Carnarvonshire^, whither he may have gone by the invita- 
tion of Maelgwn, with whom, as we have just seen, he had 
previously had an opportunity of ingratiating himself. 

* The expression in the poem is — 

" Elfin, that gave me wine, ale, and mead, 
And the fine princely steeds of gay appearance." 
t The poet's words on the occasion, here alluded to, are — 
" And I also Taliesin, 
From the banks of the lake Ceirionydd." 



45 

The remaining notices of Taliesin are very scanty ; and 
it cannot be ascertained with any precision where his latter 
days were spent. His time, after quitting Cadog's col- 
lege, was probably divided between his friends, Urien and 
Maelgwn, and the greatest portion of it, perhaps, with the 
former, whose residence in South Wales must have enabled 
him to keep up his acquaintance with Aneurin. It is also 
likely, that, about the same period, he became known to the 
celebrated Merddin, who had likewise been compelled by 
the troubles of the north to seek a refuge in Wales*. 
Among the poems attributed to Taliesin, is a " Dialogue" 
between him and this poet, which, whether genuine or not 
as to the reputed author, may safely be taken as a proof of 
that intimacy between the two bards, which a congeniality 
of feeling and talent must have rendered so natural. 

That Taliesin was married we may be allowed to pre- 
sume. For the Triads record that he had a son named 
Avaon, who is commemorated for the intrepidity of his 
martial prowess. He is, on this account, numbered amongst 
" the bull-like chieftains of Britain," as well as amongst 
those, " who continued slaughtering on their graves," as if 
to mark the obstinate and invincible character of his valour. 
Avaon appears to have been initiated by his father in the 
peaceful pursuits of the muse, before he became so deter- 
mined a votary of the god of war ; for a line, traditionally 
said to be of his composition, has been transmitted to the 
present dayf. Taliesin is supposed to have died about the 
year 570. 

* There were two contemporary bards of this name, Merddin ab Mor- 
vryn, and Merddin Emrys. The former is the one, of whom mention is here 
made. Both bards are known to English readers, under the indiscriminate 
and corrupt appellation of Merlin. 

f This specimen of Avaon's poetical talent is preserved, among other 



46 

None of the ancient Welsh poets seem to have been so 
thoroughly versed in the Bardic or Druidical mysteries, 
as Taliesin. His poems abound in allusions of this charac- 
ter, that are now, for the most part, unintelligible. They 
prove, however, the direction his studies must have taken 
in an age particularly favourable to the cultivation of any 
dark or occult science. But, even if this had not been 
evident from his writings, we should still have had his own 
acknowledgment of his attainments in this respect. On 
various occasions he boasts of his proficiency in the mystical 
lore of the Druids, and even assumes to himself a superio- 
rity, in this species of knowledge, over the other poets of 
the day-f*. The doctrine of metempsychosis in particular, 
which is known to have been espoused by the Druidical 
sages, appears to have been a favourite theme. Two or 
three of Taliesin's effusions are expressly devoted to it, and, 
from the various transmigrations which they represent the 
bard to have undergone, supply a singular instance of the 
influence of a wild theory upon a powerful and creative 
imagination. It is, therefore, evident, that Taliesin's edu- 
cation, as well, perhaps, as the bent of his mind, favoured 

similar relics, in the Welsh Archaiology, and is thus introduced — " Hast 
thou not heard what was sung by Avaon, of honest muse, the son of Talie- 
sin, * The cheek cannot conceal the affliction of the heart?' " 
t Among other expressions of this nature are the following : — 
" I am Taliesin, 
With the flowing speech of a prophet." 

Arch, of Wales, vol. i. p. 25. 
" I am Taliesin, 
Chief of the bards of the Welsh. 
I am versed in every sprig 
In the cave of the chief prophet."— Id. ib. p. 34. 
And again, 

" I am the depository of song, I am a maD of letters." 

Id. ib. p. 37. 



47 

the acquisition of Druidical learning ; but it is at the same 
time to be collected from his productions, that these abstruse 
researches had not prevented his inquiries into the holier 
mysteries of Christianity, which were, at this period, an ob- 
ject of particular cultivation amongst the religious devotees 
in Wales. It is to be presumed, that his knowledge on this 
subject was chiefly formed, or, at least, greatly improved, by 
his residence with Cadog ; and the ascendancy it acquired 
over his mind sufficiently appears from several of his effu- 
sions. But it is also observable, that, agreeably with the 
crude notions of that age, the mystical doctrines, rather 
than the genuine spirit, of the Christian faith had engaged 
his attention ; and that these were impregnated in his mind 
with the mythological peculiarities of his Druidical creed. 
However, that he was regularly admitted into the rites 
of the church may be inferred from the Triads, which 
commemorate him as one of " the Christian or baptized 
bards" of that age*, when, it is to be presumed, such a dis- 
tinction was not very common. 

But the acquirements of Taliesin were not confined to 
mystical or theological erudition. It is evident from his 
writings, that he had made considerable progress in clas- 
sical learning, such as was generally cultivated in that age, 
when the crude offspring of monkish Latinity held divided 
empire, over the region of taste, with the immortal produc- 
tions of Greece and Rome. We cannot feel any surprise, 
therefore, if the poems of Taliesin should be found to con- 
tain many pedantic imitations of the ancient writers. This 
is, in fact, the case ; for not only are several of his effu- 
sions interlarded with Latin phrases, but he has even en- 
deavoured to engraft upon our national poetry the metres 



* See the Cambro-Briton, voi. ii. p. 4S7, for a translation of this Triad. 



48 

of the classical authors, without regard to their incompati- 
bility with the genius of the Welsh tongue. But it is not 
in the structure alone of Taliesin's poetry that his classical 
knowledge betrays itself: a better taste is occasionally ma- 
nifested in the happy allusions which he makes to the works 
of the Latin and Greek poets. In these instances, which, 
however, are not numerous, he borrows the spirit of their 
effusions without slavishly adopting their language or style, 
and is content to present us with the beauties of the originals 
in the characteristic attire of his own mountain muse*. 

About eighty poems have descended to us under the 
name of Talieshrf, from which we may form some idea of 
the fecundity of his genius, since we may reasonably con- 
clude, that what have thus survived the ravages of so many 
centuries formed but a small proportion of the original 
number. None remain, it is true, of equal length and im- 
portance with the Gododin of Aneurin ; but the works of 
Taliesin, taken in the aggregate, are far more voluminous 
than those of any other contemporary bard. In their cha- 
racter they are extremely diversified, embracing not only a 
great variety of subjects, but also most of the metres then 
used in Wales, in addition to those already alluded to of an 
extraneous origin. The themes of his muse are, for the 
most part, mystical, theological, historical, and elegiac. 
There are besides many of a miscellaneous character not 
to be referred to any specific class. His historical effusions 

* Among the ancient poets, whom Taliesin appears to have read, (to 
judge from the allusions here adverted to,) are Homer, Pindar, and Vifgil. 
See the Cambrian Register, vol. iii. p. 106. It is probable enough, that his 
acquaintance with these writers was first formed during his residence with 
Cadog. 

t The poems of Taliesin, as well as of all the other early Welsh bards, are 
preserved in the first volume of the Archaiology of IVales, the most valuable 
work hitherto published in connection with Welsh literature. 



49 

are, necessarily, the most interesting ; and, as they are also 
the most numerous, they form a body of notices of the 
highest value in illustrating the early annals of Britain. 

A regard for historical truth makes it necessary, how- 
ever, here to admit, that the effusions of Taliesin are not 
often distinguished by those glowing and vivid beauties, 
which form the peculiar ornament of the muse. This may 
be ascribed as well to the servility with which he seems to 
have cultivated the mere mechanism of his poetry, as to the 
habitual exercise of his mind in the wild mysticism of Dru- 
idical learning. Hence the artificial and generally obscure 
character of his productions, such especially as are not 
purely historical, and whose faults in this respect are but 
rarely compensated by the flashes of genius, or the indica- 
tions of a correct judgment. Yet his poetry must not be 
regarded as a mere literary monster, 

null& virtute redemptum 

A vitiis. 

Occasional bursts of fine feeling and true poetical fancy 
serve to irradiate the prevailing gloom, as also to mark the 
genuine character of a mind, which had been more cor- 
rupted by the rude prejudices of the times than by its own 
natural propensities. Its vivida vis sometimes displays itself 
in spite of the opposition of custom and education, as in 
the following original and picturesque passage* : — 

* See Arch, of Wales, vol. i. p. 40. For the benefit of the Welsh reader, 
the original lines are here transcribed : — 

" Gwelais wyr gorsawr, 
A ddygyrcbynt awr ; 
Gwelais waed ar lawr 
Rhag rhwthr cleddyvawr: 
Glesynt esgyll gwawr, 
Esgorynt yn waewawr." 

E Llywarch 



50 

I saw the mighty men, 

Who thronged together at the shout ; 

I saw blood on the ground 

From the assault of swords : 

They tinged with blue the wings of the morning, 

When they flung forth their ashen spears. 

The last two lines convey a fine and uncommon image, not 
more remarkable for its boldness than for its accuracy, and 
may be placed in competition with some of the happiest 
thoughts of the most renowned poets. 

Nor is it always in mere isolated passages that the native 
vigour of Taliesin's genius is evinced. In one or two 
instances it pervades the whole com'position ; and, among 
his numerous effusions, two may be selected as being sin- 
gularly exempt from the more prominent characteristics of 
his muse. These are " The Battle of Argoed Llwyvain", 
and " The Mead Song" already adverted to. Extracts 
from these will exemplify what has been now said. The 
first in order are from a spirited, yet faithful, translation by 
the late Mr. Whitehead. 

THE BATTLE OF ARGOED*. 

Morning rose, — the issuing sun 
Saw the dreadful fight begun, 
And that sun's descending ray 
Closed the battle, closed the dayf . 



Llywarch Hen, it may be remarked, employs the same beautiful image as 
that contained in the close of this passage, when he says, " Like the wings 
of the dawn was the gleaming of the lance of Duawg." 

" Esgyll gwawr oedd waewawr Duawg." 
* Arch, of Wales, vol. i. p. 53. 

t The poet is thought, in this passage, to have had in mind the following 
line of Virgil, — 

Te, veniente die, te, decedente, canebat. 

Georg. 1. iv. 1. 466. 
But, 



51 

Flamddwyn* pour'd his rapid bands, 
Legions four o'er Reged's lands. 
The num'rous host, from side to side, 
Pour'd destruction far and wide, 
From Argoed's summits,, forest-crown'd, 
To steep Arvynydd's utmost bound. 
Short their triumph, short their sway, 
Born and ended with the day. 

* * * * 

* * * * 
Havoc, havoc raged around, 

Many a carcase strew'd the ground ; 
Ravens diank the purple flood, 
Raven-plumes were dyed with blood : 
Flighted crowds from place to place, 

Eager, hurrying, breathless, pale, 
Spread the news of their disgrace, 

Trembling as they told the tale. 

The following extracts from " The Mead Song," which, 
as the reader will recollect, was presented by the poet to 
Maelgwn, in order to procure the release of his patron 
Elfin, are almost literal versions. They want the fire in- 
deed of the foregoing specimens ; but they afford an instance 
of a better taste than is generally to be discovered in the 
works of this bard ; and, in particular, they illustrate that 
religious turn of mind, to which allusion has already been 
made. 

THE MEAD SONGt. 
To him that rules supreme, our sovereign Lord, 
Creation's chief, by all that lives ador'd, 



But, whatever resemblance there may been in the idea, it must be owued 
that this imitation is of a more equivocal character than others that are to 
be found in the woiks of Taliesin. up 

* By this name, it is generally supposed, the Welsh bards have distin- 
guished Ida, the celebrated leader of the Saxons. The word means, lite- 
rally, «« Flame-bearer." 

f Arch, of Wales, vol. i. p. 22. 

E 2 



52 

Who made the waters and sustains the skies, 
Who gives and prospers all that's good and wise j 
To him I'll pray, that Maelgwn ne'er may need 
Exhanstless treasure of the sparkling mead, 
Such as with mirth our hours hath often crown'd, 
When from his horn the foaming draught went round. 

* * * * 

O, chief supreme, prince of the realms of peace, 
Let Elfin's bondage, I beseech thee, cease, 
Who, to the beauteous steeds given heretofore, 
And wine, and ale, and mead, would give me more; 
He in the paths of peace, if Heav'n so will, 
Myriads of feasts shall give with honour still. 

But we must not part with Taliesin without giving the 
reader a specimen of the general bent of his poetical talent. 
What has already been said on this point will serve suffi- 
ciently to introduce the following lines, in which the extra- 
vagance of a romantic fancy has been engrafted on the 
no less extravagant notions of Druidism. Some imagi- 
nary monster seems to be the object of the poet's de- 
scription*. 

There is a hideous beast 

Between the deep and the shallow ; 

His jaws as wide as the Mountain of Peaks f: 

Him death shall not overcome, 

Nor hand nor blades. 

There is the load of nine hundred wains 

In the hair of his two paws ; 

One eye there is in his head, 

Green like a sheet of ice ; 

There are three fountains 

In the nape of his neck ; 

And sea-monsters thereon 

Do swim through him. 

* Id. ib. p. 20. 

f Mynydd Mynnau, here translated " Mountain of Peaks," is generally 
considered to be the name of the Alps. 



53 

In the same grotesque and unintelligible strain does 
Taliesin generally delight to present us with the inspirations 
of his muse. What his fancy has suggested takes, for the 
most part, its colouring from the influence of his mytho- 
logical theories ; and, when the natural force of his mind 
would have prompted him to be sublime, he is hurried by 
the current of his education to adopt what is mystical and 
perplexed. If he occasionally soar above this barbarous 
prejudice, it is only to make us regret the more that he 
should ever have been exposed to its despotism. By nature 
a poet, he became by habit, and, perhaps at length, by in- 
clination, a rhapsodist. Unable or unwilling entirely to 
extricate himself from the maze in which he was involved, 
he has generally chosen, rather than abandon the paths of 
the muse, to prosecute his career in mystery and in dark- 
ness. But, amongst his wildest speculations, his most impro- 
bable fables, the energy of his genius, as we have already 
seen, sometimes breaks forth: however impenetrable the 
gloom of his conceptions, we can occasionally recognize the 
commanding spirit by which this " palpable obscure" was 
created. 

The foregoing remarks have reference chiefly to the spe- 
culative effusions of Taliesin ; for most of his historical 
poems are of a different character. If they are not gene- 
rally distinguished by the ebullitions of genius or the re- 
finements of taste, they possess features of a more important 
description in the homely fidelity of their narrative : artless 
and immethodical as they may be, they are still valuable as 
illustrating the events of an age, of which we have, compa- 
ratively, such scanty memorials. This peculiarity, as has 
been before noticed*, formed a remarkable distinction of 

* See the Life of Aneurin, p. 31, suprd. 



54 

the early Welsh poetry, and among it that of Taliesin, 
where it is unmixed with his occult learning, merits, in this 
•point of view, a pre-eminent rank. Either for this reason, 
or on account of the multiplicity and variety of his effu- 
sions, Taliesin has, from time immemorial, enjoyed amongst 
his countrymen the title of " Chief of the Bards ; and, 
while the language of the Cymry continues to he cultivated, 
this traditional honour will still accompany his name. But 
it may be said of Taliesin, in a few words, that he has been 
more praised than read, more read than understood. And, 
whilst he has been immoderately extolled for merits that 
did not belong to him, those, which are really his own, 
have never been duly appreciated. For, after all, it may 
truly be said of him, that he wants no borrowed plumes to 
maintain his rank among the most eminent of the ancient 
Welsh poets. 



55 



LLYWARCH HEN*. 

The fifth and sixth centuries, as has been already inci- 
dentally noticed in the foregoing pages, were remarkably 
signalized by the long and arduous struggle, which the 
Britons maintained in the defence of their liberties. The 
hostility of the Saxons, originating in treachery, and con- 
tinued in violence, was peculiarly qualified to rouse into 
action those powerful energies of the mind, which were 
displayed during the period under consideration, and which 
communicated their influence as well to the strains of the 
poet as to the sword of the warrior. Even the names that 
have descended to the present day bear ample testimony to 
this fact ; but the remoteness of the age, and the desolating 
events that have filled up the interval, fully justify the 
conclusion that the chieftains and bards of that era, of 
whom we now retain any record, must have borne but a 
small proportion to those, whose history is entirely lost 
to us. 

In no part of the island were the conflicts, consequent 
on the incursion of the Saxons, more frequent or more 
severe than in that portion of North Britain, which was 
anciently called Cumbria. The natives of this extensive 
district enjoyed a community of language as well as of de- 
scent with the inhabitants of Wales, and retained in the 
name of their country the evidence. of this identity*]-. Ex- 

* It may be proper here to mention, that a great part of this Life is bor- 
rowed from that which has already appeared, from the same pen, in the 
Cambro-Briton. See vol. i. p. 287. 

t The district, called Cumbria, embraced a larger extent of territory 
than the modern Cumberland, which seems to be a corruption of the old 



56 

posed on the one side to the Saxons, and to the Picts on 
the other, the Cumbrians supported a long and unequal 
contest with varying fortunes, before they were compelled 
to give way to the united and overwhelming force of their 
enemies. It was the close of these eventful times, that 
produced those gifted individuals, whose poetical fame still 
communicates a celebrity to the first epoch of Welsh lite- 
rature*. 

Amongst the Cumbrians of note, whether as warriors or 
poets, who lived during this period, Llywarch Hen, or 
Llywarch the Aged, fills an eminent place : eminent for his 
rank and genius, and still more so for his years and his 
misfortunes. He was descended from a long line of princes, 
or military chieftains, who had, in more propitious times, 
exercised a supreme authority over the whole island. His 
father was Elidyr Lydanwyn, a prince of the Northern 
Britons, and fourth in descent from Coel, who, according to 
the British Chronicle, was the seventy-fifth king of Britain. 
Nor were the honours, which Llywarch claimed from his 
maternal ancestry, of an inferior character. His mother, 
Gwawr, was the daughter of Brychan, an Irish chieftain, 
whose grandfather, Cormac Mac Carbery, enjoyed a sove- 
reign sway in the sister island. This Brychan became 
an exile from his native land, and finally sought refuge in 
Wales, in the history of which country he is distinguished 
as the father of one of the " three holy families' 1 *!*. 

name. It comprised all that part of the North anciently occupied by the 
Cymry, and reached even to the borders of Scotland. 

* The reasons for including the poets of North Britain arwong the orna- 
ments of Welsh literature have been detailed in the Life of Aneurin. See 
p. 21, supril. Nor must it be forgotten, with respect to these poets, that 
the asylum they found in Wales proved at once the nurse of their genius 
and the guardian of their fame. 

f Brychan settled in that part of South Wales, which has since been 



57 

The patrimonial possessions of Llywarch were known by 
the name of Argoed, which has been reasonably conjec- 
tured to be a part of the present Cumberland, bordering to 
the west on the great Forest of Celyddon or Caledonia*: 
and that he exercised a sovereign power over this territory 
may be inferred from the Historical Triads, in which he is 
denominated one of the " disinterested princes of Britain." 
We learn too, from the same authority, that Llywarch 
spent a part of his early life in the court of Arthur, who 
had been raised, as we have before seen, by a general vote 
to the supreme command of the states of Britain. , In the 
ancient records alluded to he is commemorated as one of 
the " three intelligent bards," one of the " three counselling 
knights," and one of the " three free and discontented 
guests" of the court of Arthur, one of whose chief places of 
residence, according to the Triads, was in the North. It 
also appears from a poem of Llywarch's, entitled " An 
Elegy on Geraint ab Erbin," that he fought under Arthur 
in one of his battles +; and we learn moreover, from his 
" Ode to Maenwyn," that his youth was chiefly passed in 
warlike pursuits, as well against the predatory banditti, 
who seem to have infested the northern parts of the island 
in that age, as against the common enemy. This may be 
collected from the two following stanzas, which occur in the 
poem last adverted to : — 



called, after him, Brecknockshire. He is recorded in the Triads as having 
" introduced the Christian faith to the Cyniry, who were before without 
faith." — See the Cambro-Briton, vol. ii. p. 169. 

* Argoed is a Welsh word, implying, literally, lt on or above the wood," 
and occurs in Wales as the name of several places thus situated. It there- 
fore points out the precise nature of Llywarch's territory. 

f This was the battle of Llongborth, mentioned in p. 9, suprd,. 



58 

Maenwyn, when I was in tby condition, 

With youth attendant on me ; 

The outlaw would not have broken my boundary. 

Maenwyn, whilst I was as thou art, 

Following the course of my youth, 

The enemy loved not the fury of my resentment. 

How long Llywarch remained at Arthur's court it cannot 
be possible to determine ; but, since he is recorded as one 
of its "discontented guests," it may be inferred that his 
stay there was of no great duration. Probably the troubles 
in which his country was involved, summoned him early 
away to join the ranks of its defenders. For he does not 
appear to have taken any part in the civil war between 
Arthur and Medrod ; and, when the former fell in the fatal 
conflict of Camlan, Llywarch was most probably engaged 
in defending the North with Urien, whom, in his elegy on 
that chieftain, he calls his cousin, his lord, and his pro- 
tector*. Llywarch, with his numerous issue, united his 
force to that of Urien and his sons upon this occasion 
against the growing power of the Saxons ; and there are 
even grounds for presuming that they all fought under the 



* Urien was a cousin-german of Llywarch. The bard himself alludes to 
this relationship in his Poem on his Old Age, where, speaking of one of his 
sons, he says — 

My son was a hero, and splendid was his fame : 
And he was the nephew of Urien. 
And that Llywarch and Urien were on terms of particular intimacy is appa- 
rent from another allusion in the same poem, where the poet thus apostro- 
phizes himself: 

The horn, given to thee by Urien, 
With the wreath of gold around its rim, 
Blow iu it, if thou art in danger. 

The " Elegy on Urien" contains, likewise, many testimonies to this fact even 
stronger than the preceding. 



59 

same banners in the disastrous battle of Cattraeth, in which 
Urien commanded. At least, in the Gododin of Aneurin, 
which records that calamity, four of the sons of Llywarch 
are expressly named as being then engaged ; and there is 
even an apparent allusion to the aged warrior himself and the 
force under his command*. But, whether he participated 
or not in the ruinous consequences of this conflict, we find 
that the loss of his patrimony, and the fall of most of his 
sons, was the melancholy result of the unequal struggle in 
which his country had been engaged. Thus destitute, he 
was compelled, like the father of Aneurin, to find his safety 
in flight, with such of his children as had survived ; and a 
kindred fate induced him also to seek an asylum in Wales, 
where he was hospitably received by Cynddylan, at that 
time prince of Powys. To this the bard gratefully alludes 
in his elegy on the death of that chieftain, and from which 
it also appears, that Cynddylan resided at that time at 
Pengwern, or Shrewsbury, the ancient seat of the princes 
of Powys before the inroads of the Saxons had driven them 
to Mathravalf. 



* The passage in the Gododin, which appears to refer to this circum- 
stance is as follows : — 

Grievously would I be afflicted for, 
Fondly would I cherish, 
The illustrious solitary one, 
And the men of Argoed. 

It is hardly possible to apply the expression of " the illustrious solitary 
one," when associated with the " men of Argoed," to any other person but 
Llywarch. And if it have that allusion, it proves that an intimate friend- 
ship existed between him and Aneurin. 

t The following lines in the u Elegy on Cynddylan" contain the notice 
of this fact : — 

Stand forth, ye virgins, and behold the habitation of Cynddylan, 
The palace of Pengwern, is it not in flames! 



60 

When Llywarch was received by Cynddylan, he found 
him and his brother Elvan engaged in a severe contest 
with a people, whom the poet calls, indiscriminately, Loe- 
grians and Franks*. They were probably a mixture of 
such of the adjoining population, including the Roman 
Britons, as were not then known by the name of Saxons. 
The expatriated chief immediately took an active part with 
Cynddylan in this quarrel ; and the battles which ensued, 
proved, most probably, fatal to the rest of his sons, whose 
death Llywarch laments, with a parental and affecting 
fondness, in his " Elegy on his Old Age." We find too, 
from his poem on Cynddylan, that the issue of this war 
proved no less disastrous to that prince and his brother, 
whose fate the bard pathetically deplores in the following 
lines amongst many others. 

The hall of Cynddylan is silent to night 

After having lost its lord : — 

Great God of Mercy, what shall I do? 

The hall of Cynddylan, how gloomy seems its roof! 
Since the Loegrians have destroyed 
Cynddylan and Elvan of Powys. 

It appears likewise from the same poem, that Cynddylan 
was buried at Bassa, probably the place now called Bass- 
church, in Shropshire. For the bard tells us, that 

* For an account of the first settlement of the Loegrians (Lloegrwys) in 
this island, as recorded in the Historical Triads, see the Cambro- Briton, vol. 
i. pp. 47 and 49. The name, originally, was confined in its application ; 
hut it appears, in process of time, to have become general in its reference to 
such of the inhabitants of Britain, excepting the Saxons, as were not Cymry ; 
and in this sense it seems to be here used by Llywarch. The meaning of 
the term " Franks" is not so easily to be ascertained, unless it be supposed, 
that the Franks came over with the Saxons in such numbers, as to cause the 
introduction of their name as a distinct people. 



61 

The churches of Bassa are near to night 

To the heir of Cyndrwyn : 

The grave-house of fair Cynddylan. 

No clue is left whereby we can ascertain with precision 
the abode of Llywarch after the death of his friend and 
patron. But it appears likely, from some passages in his 
poems, that his latter years, which formed a period of un- 
mixed affliction, were spent in Powys. One of his effu- 
sions is addressed to the " Cuckoo of the Vale of Cuawg ;" 
and, as it contains strong allusions to his wretched fate, it 
is likely that it was composed during the latter part of his 
life, when, accordingly, he may have resided in this vale, 
which has been conjectured to be in Montgomeryshire*. 
And it is to be collected from his " Elegy on his Old Age," 
that he afterwards resided at Llanvor in the county of 
Merioneth. But, wherever the evening of his days was 
consumed, it is certain that it was pregnant with sorrows, 
which he bewails in the most affecting strains in the elegy 
last mentioned, written after his connexion with Cynddylan 
was at an end, as is evident from the following passage, 
which also bears testimony to the infirmity under which he 
then laboured. 

Before I went on crutches, I was bold, 
I was admitted into the congress-house 
Of Powys, the Paradise of the Cymry. 

The bard farther appears from this poem to have been 
weighed down by the accumulated sufferings of age, sick- 

* The Vale of Cuawg is so called, most probably, from a river of that 
name : and what almost confirms the conjecture is, that Llywarch, in the 
same poem, has an allusion to Aber Cuawg, the Mouth of the Cuawg, which 
may have been the very spot where he resided. There is a place in Mont- 
gomeryshire, near Machynlleth, still called Dol Giog, which may serve to 
identify the spot that is the object of our inquiry. 



62 

ness, and grief, while the agonizing remembrance of his 
blighted prosperity, and of all his sons, four and twenty in 
number, fallen a prey to the fury of battle, must have com- 
pleted a picture of misery not easily to be paralleled. His 
sons were all of them military chieftains, and distinguished, 
as such, by the golden torques, of which some account has 
been given in the life of Aneurin*. The fact is mentioned 
by the venerable bard in the following lines : — 

Four ar-d twenty sons I have had 

Wearing the golden wreath, leaders of armies. 

The greater number of these fell, as already noticed, in the 
defence of their native land under Urien ; but Llywarch 
enumerates at least four*)-, who were buried in North 
Wales, and who, consequently, must have met their fate in 
the wars of Cynddylan or of the other Welsh chieftains. 

An old Welsh manuscript has preserved a fugitive 
stanza, ascribed to Llywarch, accompanied by an anecdote 
relating to the death of one of his sons, which may not be 
out of place here. It is there related that Gw&n ab Llyw- 
arch had his horse killed under him in battle, and was 
himself slain some time afterwards. Subsequently to this 
the skull of the horse was placed, instead of a stepping- 
stone, over a small brook, near the scene of the animal's 
death. Llywarch happening soon afterwards to pass that 
way, the skull was pointed out to him by a companion, who 
informed him that it had belonged to the horse of his son 

Gwen. To this the bard replied in the following extempo- 

. 

* See the note in p. 24, suprd,. 

t These are Gwell, Sawyl, Llyngedwy, and Cynllug ; and, apparently, 
may be added Pyll and Llavyr. The graves of the first four were at Rhiw 
Velen, Llangollen, Ammarch, and Llug : and, by inference, that of Llavyr 
appears to have been at Llorien. 



es 

rary stanza, which has at least the merit of being extremely 
natural to the occasion. 

I have seen that horse's day, 

(That horse, with the looks of a stag, the thrower up of sods,) 

When none would have trodden on his jaw, 

As he carried Gwen the son of Llywarch. 

Whatever credit may be due to this trivial anecdote, it 
must, at least, be admitted that it is, by no means, impro- 
bable. 

It is recorded of the venerable bard, that he ended his 
days at Llanvor, near Bala in Merionethshire. A secluded 
spot in that parish, which still bears the name of Old 
Llywarch's Cot, Pabell Llywarch Hen, serves to corrobo- 
rate this tradition, as it was, in all probability, the last 
scene of that earthly pilgrimage, in which affliction had 
borne so great a share. The bard himself distinctly al- 
ludes, as before observed, to his residence in this neigh- 
bourhood in the " Elegy on his Old Age;" and the circum- 
stances under which that elegy was written, prove that it 
must have been in the decline of his life. Dr. Davies, the 
celebrated author of the Latin- Welsh Dictionary, who lived 
in the early part of the seventeenth century, even goes so 
far as to state, that he had seen an inscription, apparently 
relating to Llywarch, in the parish church of Llanvor over 
a spot where the poet was traditionally said to have been 
interred. But, as all traces of this inscription have long 
disappeared, it may be too much now to rely upon it as an 
authentic memorial.- Llywarch died about the middle of 
the seventh century, and, according to an immemorial tra- 
dition, at the patriarchal age of one hundred and fifty 
years*, after having long outlived his children, his friends, 

* It is to be proved from the productions of Llywarch, that he was 
cotemporary both with Arthur and Cadwallou, and that he survived them 



64 

and every worldly blessing, which makes existence desi- 
rable. To use his own emphatic words, 

Wretched was the fate that was decreed 

To Llywarch on the night of his birth: 

Long pains, without being delivered of his load of sorrow*. 

Of all the early Welsh poetry that of Llywarch Hen is 
most distinguished by its uniformity as well as by its artless 
simplicity. It has none of those mystical features, which 
mark the strains of Taliesin, and is alike free from the ob- 
scurities occasionally observable in the Gododin. The 
poems of Llywarch possess a sort of unaffected and primi- 
tive character, which is among the strongest proofs of their 
genuineness. The themes too, which the bard has selected, 
are for the most part such as were, in a manner, interwoven 
with his own wayward destiny : the battles in which he had 
fought, the loss of his territory, of his children, and of his 
patrons, his various sufferings, his infirmities, and his des- 
titute old age. They are, in a word, the themes of sorrow, 
and, springing, as they did, from the heart of the poet, 
cannot fail to find a responsive vibration in that of the 

both. Arthur died, as we have previously seen, in the year 542, at which 
period Llywarch was, most probably, about forty years of age. Now, as he 
also outlived Cadwallon, which his elegy on that chieftain sufficiently proves, 
he must at that time have been above one hundred and forty ; for the death 
of Cadwallon is generally appropriated to the year 646. This circumstance, 
when united with the current tradition on the subject, is sufficient to justify 
the age above imputed to the venerable bard. 

* This stanza may be compared with the following verse in the Book of 
v Job : " Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it 
was said, there is a man child conceived." — Ch. 3. v. 3. Indeed there is a 
remarkable affinity between the whole of this affecting elegy and the ancient 
book just quoted. The circumstances, under which the two lamentations 
were made, are not very dissimilar. The loss of dominion, of fortune, and 
of children is common to both. 



65 

reader. But what communicates to the strains of Lly warch, 
as to the Gododin of Aneurin, their greatest value, is 
their historical character. And the memorials they contain 
are not of a mere hearsay description: the poet himself 
was a chief actor in the scenes he represents, as well as a 
principal sufferer in the calamities he records, — 
" quaeque ipse miserrima vidit 



Et quorum pars magna fuit."- 



The poems ascribed to Llywarch, as preserved in the 
Archaiology of Wales, are twelve in number. Six of these 
are of the historical character just alluded to, and the re- 
mainder are devoted to moral or aphoristic subjects. The 
historical poems, however, bear, in length, a proportion of 
three to one to the others, and embrace a body of notices 
respecting the events of the age in which they were written, 
that, for reasons already mentioned, are peculiarly valu- 
able, provided their genuineness be satisfactorily ascer- 
tained. And this seems to be demonstrable from two 
features, by which the effusions in question are prominently 
distinguished. One is the uniformity of sentiment, lan- 
guage, and style, that pervades these as well as all the 
effusions ascribed to this bard ; and the other is the frequent 
allusions to himself as the author that occur in the histo- 
rical pieces. To this it may also be added that the metre, 
in which the whole are written, is the most ancient of all 
those known to Welsh poetry. It is entitled the Warrior's 
Triplet* and its inartificial construction affords abundant 
evidence of the antiquity traditionally assigned to it. It is 
not too strong an assumption, then, to set down all the 

* In the original, Englyn Milwr. It was a metre particularly in use 
amongst the members of the Druidical institution, by whom it was employed 
as the vehicle of their aphoristic instructions. 

F 



60 

poems imputed to Llywarch, as his, marked, as they all 
are, by the same simple and energetic narrative, or by the 
same artless display of sententious morality. Alike homely 
in their sentiment and style, they must have been the pro- 
duction of an age, to which the artifices of poetical refine- 
ment, whether in diction or thought, were wholly unknown; 
and in such an age Llywarch lived. 

A few specimens of the poetry of this bard, in addition 
to those already incidentally quoted, shall now be given ; 
and, to retain as much as possible the character of the ori- 
ginals, the translations shall be strictly literal, without any 
endeavour to throw them into a metrical form. Yet it 
must not be forgotten, that the passages will thus be ex- 
posed to a disadvantage common to all poetry in its trans- 
fusion from one tongue to another. The first extract con- 
tains the two stanzas or triplets, with which the " Elegy on 
Geraint" commences, and presents us with a flattering por- 
trait of that chieftain*. 

When Geraint was born, the portals of heaven were open, 

Christ vouchsafed what was supplicated, 

A countenance beaming with beauty, the glory of Britain. 

Let all celebrate the blood-stain'd Geraint, 
Their lord ; I too will praise Geraint, 
The Saxon's foe, the friend of saints. 

This Geraint, who was a warrior of considerable celebrity, 
and is commemorated in the Triads as having commanded 
a fleet against the Saxons, fell fighting against them in the 
battle of Llongborth, of which some account was given in 
the life of Arthur. To the sanguinary character of this 

* Similar qualifications are ascribed to Geraint in the Gododin of Anew- 
hi, and in a strain of high panegyric. It would, therefore, appear that he 
bore a share in the battle of Cattraeth. 



67 

battle, and the distinguished part performed in it by Ge- 
xaint, the bard frequently alludes; and the following stanzas 
on the subject will be found forcible and picturesque. 

At Llongborth I saw the weapons 

Of heroes, with gore fast dripping, 

And after the shout a dreadful descent to earth. 

At Llongborth I saw the conflicting edges of blades, 
Men quaking with terror, and blood on the brow, 
Before Geraint the worthy son of his father. 

At Llongborth I saw severe toiling 

Amidst the stones, and ravens feasting on entrails, 

And on the chieftain's brow a crimson gash. 

The following lines, in the " Elegy on Urien," paint 
also, in strong colours, the character of that warrior, while 
they, at the same time, evince the poetical powers of the 
bard, who thus addresses his spear. 

Let me be guided onward, thou fierce ashen spear ! sullen 
As the ocean's surly laughter was the expanding tumult of war, 
Where raged Urien, fiery champion. 

Like the eagle, in his onset a bold and generous foe, 
Of war the torment, secure of conquest, 
Was Urien with the grasp of fire. 

Nor are Llywarch's descriptions confined to the horrors 
of battle : the following allusions to the desolate mansion 
of Urien, when its lord was no more, are extracted from 
among many others of a similar character, and prove that 
the talents of the poet were equally adapted to the pathetic. 

This hearth, will it not be overgrown with nettles ! 

Whilst its protector was yet alive, 

More familiarized with it was the foot of the needy petitioner. 

* * * * 

This buttress here, and that one yonder, 
More congenial around them would have been 
The joyous clamour of the convivial host and the voice of harmony, 
F <? 



68 

The " Elegy on Cynddylan," Prince of Powys, is likewise 
remarkable for many passages of a kindred nature with 
those last quoted. Indeed, whenever ideas of a melancholy 
or affecting tendency occurred to the poet, he seems to 
have been loath to abandon them until he had exhausted 
all the variety of turns his muse was capable of imparting 
to them. This is a feature, singularly characteristic of the 
elegiac poems of Llywarch, and may be added to those 
already enumerated in proof of their genuineness. The 
two stanzas, that follow, introduce the " Elegy on Cyn- 
ddylan ;" and the moral turn, with which they respectively 
close, forms another distinction of the early Welsh poetry. 

Stand forth, ye maidens, and behold the dwelling of Cynddylan, 
The royal palace of Pengwern*, is it not in flames? 
Woe to the young, that long to enter into social ties ! 

One tree, which the twining woodbine embraces, 

Shall haply escape : — 

But what God wills, let that be done. 

The succeeding extracts are selected from the same poem, 
and are all illustrative of the remarks that have just been 
made. Indeed, the whole Elegy is a continued recurrence 
to the melancholy recollections of the poet's past happi- 
ness, while an inmate of the hospitable residence of Cyn- 
ddylan, when contrasted with the misery to which he was 
afterwards exposed. Many of these affecting reminiscences 
are in the true spirit of grief, and could only have emanated 
.from the most acute suffering: if they are not always 
highly poetical, they are something more ; they are deeply 
and afflictingly natural. 

The hall of Cynddylan, art thou not bereft of thy wonted appearance! 

Thy shield is in the grave: — 

Whilst he lived there was no broken roof. 

* The old Welsh name for Shrewsbury. 



69 

The hall of Cynddylan is without love to night, 

Since he that own'd it is no more — 

Ah, Death, it will be but a short time he will leave me ! 

* * * * ■* 
The hall of Cynddylan is gloomy to night, 
Without fire, without a family— 
My overflowing tears gush out. 

The hall of Cynddylan, — it pierces me to see it, 

Without a covering, without a fire : 

My chieftain is no more, aud I myself still live ! 

The following stanzas have reference to a town destroyed 
in the wars of that period : it was situate in the county of 
Salop, and the site of it is still to be traced. 

The white town in the valley, 

Joyful were its inmates when affording mutual aid in battle ; 

But its citizens — are they not gone? 

The white town, between Tren and Trodwydd*, 
More usual in it was to behold the fractured shield 
Coming from battle, than the returning ox at eve. 

In the next and last extract the bard again reverts to his 
sorrowful reflections, as he beholds from an eminence the 
country, which had been the scene of his vanished enjoy- 
ments. 

Have not my eyes gazed on a delightful land 

From the high mount of Gorwynion ? 

Long is the course of the sun, longer far my remembrances. 

Have not I gazed, from the lofty city of Wreconf, 

In the verdant valley of Freuer, 

With grief for the destruction of my social friends? 

* The ancient names of two rivers in Shropshire. The first is most 
probably to be identified with the modern Tern, which flows into the 
Severn near Acham. The " White town," above mentioned, is conjec- 
tured to have been the present Whittington. 

t Wroxeter, near Shrewsbury, called, by the Romans, Uriconium. 



70 

Such are the strains of Llywarch the Aged, who, whe- 
ther as a poet or a warrior, must ever be ranked among 
the most eminent Britons of the epoch in which he lived. 
His years, his infirmities, and his various sufferings serve 
also to enhance the interest, with which his life and cha- 
racter may be contemplated even after the lapse of so 
many centuries. 



71 



ST. DAVID. 

The original introduction of the Christian faith into Britain 
is a subject that has employed the pens of many eminent 
writers, and some of whom, in the pardonable excess of a 
pious zeal, have even ascribed to the Apostle of the Gentiles 
himself the glory of having first imparted the truths of the 
Gospel to our uncivilized ancestors*. On a point, however, 
so involved in obscurity, speculative opinions should be re- 
ceived with caution, yet, at the same time, with indulgence, 
as aiming to compensate for the necessary absence of all 
positive testimony. At whatever period, or by whatever 
agency, Christianity first shed its light upon this island, it 
is a lamentable truth, that its morning beams were long 
overcast by the clouds of barbarism and of error: and 
many were the ages that had elapsed before the Sun of the 
Gospel burst forth in its full meridian blaze. During the 
first five centuries, especially, numerous causes conspired 
to retard the diffusion of this celestial light : the lingering 
darkness of paganism, the long succession of wars and civil 
convulsions, and the wild innovations of fanaticism and 
heresy, opposed, in their turns, the progress of Revelation 
among the natives of Britain. It was about the close of the 
period alluded to, that the state of the British church began 
to assume a more prosperous aspect. Some Gallican mis- 
sionaries, sent, as it would appear, at the special solicitation 
of the Britons themselves, succeeded in disseminating a 



* This point has been discussed in the Cambro-Briton, vol. i. p. 282, and 
vol. ii. p. 316, and particularly with reference to the ancient Welsh autho- 
rities that relate to the subject. 



72 

more religious and orthodox spirit throughout the island* ; 
but, above all, in Wales and Cornwall, the peculiar settle- 
ments of the ancient inhabitants, the cause of Christianity 
acquired, from this period, a progressive stability, and its 
advocates an encreased zeal. Hence, in the fifth and sixth 
centuries, Wales, in particular, was distinguished by the 
number of its pious divines, who laboured, with successful 
assiduity, in the propagation of their holy faith, notwith- 
standing the intestine divisions, by which the country was 
then agitated. 

Among the individuals, who enlisted themselves in the 
sacred cause, the subject of this memoir holds an exalted 
rank, signalized as he was, in a remarkable manner, both 
for his piety and his zeal. And the same qualities, which 
thus procured him a pre-eminence in the estimation of his 
cotemporaries, have served to canonize his fame in the eyes 
of posterity. He, accordingly, fills an illustrious place in 
the ecclesiastical annals of Wales ; and even the dignity of 
a tutelar saint has been conferred upon him by the popular 
voicef. Nor have the aids of legend and fiction been 
wanting to the consummation of his ambiguous renown. 
But it becomes the duty of the impartial biographer to de- 
tach from the character of this celebrated champion of 
Christianity those extraneous decorations, which serve ra- 
ther to shade than to brighten his genuine fame. 

* The most eminent of these were Germanus and Lupus, Bishops of 
Auxerre and Troyes, who were commissioned more particularly to oppose 
the doctrines of Pelagianism, then making considerable progress among the 
Christianized Britons. For an account of their miraculous victory over the 
Saxons, called Victoria Alkluiatica, see the Cambro-Briton, vol. i. pp. 139 
and 262. 

f It should be noticed, however, that this honour is entirely of foreign, 
and, comparatively speaking, of modern growth. The old Welsh records 
make no mention of such a distinction, as belonging to St. David. 



73 

St. David, or Dewi, according to his national appella- 
tion, was the son of Sandde, who was himself of the eccle- 
siastical profession, and distinguished hy the sanctity of his 
character. This Sandde was the son or grandson, — for au- 
thorities differ on this point,— -of Ceredig, a chief of Cum- 
brian descent, who gave name to that portion of South 
Wales, which has since been called Cardiganshire. The 
father of Ceredig was Cunedda, who possessed a sovereign 
power in the North of England, but who was compelled, 
by the troubles of the period, to seek his safety in exile. 
He accordingly, with his numerous issue, settled in Wales, 
where he possessed some territory in right of his wife, and 
where other lands were allotted to him and his children as 
a recompence for their services in the expulsion of the 
Irish, who then infested the Welsh coast. Cunedda is ce- 
lebrated in the Historical Triads for having been the first 
to grant lands and privileges to the Church ; and most of 
his sons are recorded to have embraced a religious life. St. 
David's mother was Non, whose name is to be found among 
the Saints of the British Church. She was the daughter 
of Gynyr, a chieftain of Pembrokeshire, who, like Cunedda, 
is commemorated for having devoted his patrimony to reli- 
gious uses. Gynyr had for his wife Anna, daughter of 
Gwrthevyr, or Vortimer, the eighty-third king of Britain, 
and son of the renowned Vortigern*. Thus, both by the 

* It is remarkable that all the accounts of St. David, whether historical 
or legendary, concur in representing this Anna as the sister of Arthur, but 
who was, in fact, married to Llew, by whom she became the mother of 
Medrod. See supra, p. 4. This error, for such it obviously is, can only 
have arisen from the desire, so much indulged, of throwing every possible 
lustre on the fame of St. David. A reference to dates, however, will prove 
that he could not have been the grand-nephew of Arthur ; for, although he 
was contemporary with that prince, he must have been at least fifty years 
older. See the Cambrian Biography under the name of Anna. 






74 

paternal and maternal lines, St. David was of a noble li- 
neage : and it is worthy of notice, that, amongst his an- 
cestors, so many should be remarkable for the same holy zeal, 
that has conferred on his own name so great a celebrity. 

The place and time of St. David's birth have been vari- 
ously related, and, in no instance perhaps, with precise ac- 
curacy. From the most probable statements, his native 
place was that, which has since been peculiarly dedicated 
to his memory, under the name of St. David's, in Pem- 
brokeshire, but at that time called Mynyw, or Menevia*. 
The period of his birth may be placed about the middle of 
the fifth centttryf, when, according to the enthusiastic lan- 
guage of an old writer, he was sent by heaven as a com- 
pensation for the losses his country had sustained through 
the hostility of the Saxons. 

If the popular histories of St. David were deserving of 
any credit, we might believe that his birth was accompanied 
by many miraculous circumstances^, and that the strange 
precocity of his talents and piety prefigured, in his early 
infancy, the distinguished part he was destined to act. But 
these and other similar notices may securely be resigned to 
the lovers of the marvellous and romantic, without deduct- 
ing any thing from the authentic memorials of the Cambrian 

* Menevia appears to have been the Romanized version of the old Welsh 
name. 

+ It will thus appear, that the Life of St. David is rather misplaced with 
respect to the chronological order. But, as he was contemporary with all 
those, whose lives have already been given, the anachronism, if such it may 
be called, can be of no great importance. 

X According to the legendary accounts, his birth was foretold to St. 
Patrick, by a divine vision, about thirty years before it happened, and the 
important event took place on the sea-coast in the midst of a violent tem- 
pest, while the immediate spot, where the saint was born, enjoyed all the 
brightness of a summer's sun. 



75 

saint. According to these, he was, at an early age, de- 
signed for the offices of religion, and was, with this view, 
placed under the care of Paulinus, or Pawl Hen, a cele- 
brated personage in the ecclesiastical annals of that period. 
Paulinus had just before founded a college or monastery, 
in Carmarthenshire, since called Whitland Abbey, and, in 
the language of the country, Ty Gwyn ar Dav. Here it 
was that St. David received his education*, and he is re- 
corded to have continued a pupil of Paulinus for ten years, 
profiting, in an eminent degree, by the instructions of his 
preceptor, whose character, both for his learned acquire- 
ments and a rigid practice of the moral duties, has been the 
subject of particular eulogy +. It may, therefore, reason- 
ably be inferred, that the auspicious circumstances of St. 
IJavid's education, operating upon the natural bent of his 
mind, conduced, in a peculiar manner, to his subsequent 
distinction. 

St. David, upon quitting Paulinus, returned to his native 
place, and seems to have resolved upon leading, for some 
time at least, a life of seclusion. Accordingly, retiring to 
the valley of Rhos, in the vicinity of the present St. David's, 
he there laid the foundation of a religious community, of 
which several of his countrymen, who were most remark- 
able for their Christian zeal, became afterwards members. 
Among these are to be found the names of Teilo and Pa- 
darn, both of them distinguished in the History of the 
British Saints, and to whom several churches in Wales are 
dedicated. The discipline, which St. David established in 

* It is singular that Leland and other writers should have placed Pau- 
Hnnt and his pupil in the Isle of Wight. The resemblance of the name to 
Whitland, remote as it is, may have been the cause of this error. 

f Leland, following former authors, calls him " virum magnse emditionis, 
turn preeterea vitas continentissimae." 



76 

this monastic retreat, is represented as of the most rigorous 
nature. He enjoined amongst his associates the strictest 
attention to those virtues, which, in the infancy of Chris- 
tianity, were supposed to constitute the chief ornament of 
its votaries. Prayer, watchings, toil, abstinence*, and self- 
denial of every mortifying description, formed the general 
object of those rules, which the Saint and his pious frater- 
nity had prescribed for their daily and implicit observance. 
Yet their religion was not exclusively of a selfish and ascetic 
character. What they denied to themselves they seem freely 
to have bestowed on others. The relief of the needy and 
distressed was, therefore, one of their favourite occupa- 
tions ; and, not content with administering to the temporal 
wants of their countrymen, they extended their benevolence 
also to their eternal welfare, by disseminating among them 
the truths of divine revelation. We accordingly find St. 
David and his fellow ecclesiastics, Teilo and Padarn, com- 
memorated in the Historical Triads for these works of cha- 
rity, and on which account they are distinguished as the 
" three benign visitantsf." That this has reference to the 
period, when St. David and his companions enjoyed their 
religious retirement in the vale of Rhos, is obvious from the 
corresponding testimony of other memorials, that ascribe 
to this pious community the exercise of similar virtues J. 



* AH the memorials of St. David concur in this; and Leland particula- 
rizes herbs and water as the only sustenance of the pious brotherhood. A 
water-fall in the vicinity still bears the name of Pistyll Dewi, or David's 
Waterfall, and in the old Welsh records the saint is called Dewi Ddyvrwr, 
David the Waterman. Whether these circumstances have any reference to 
the abstemiousness spoken of in the text, it is left to the ingenuity of the 
reader to determine. 

t For a translation of this Triad, see the Cambro-Briton f vol. i. p. 170. 

t This is particularly mentioned by Giraldus Cambrensis, who says, that 
reading, praying, and feeding the poor, constituted the chief occupations of 



77 

During this retreat, it is said, St. David and his asso- 
ciates experienced considerable molestation from one of 
the neighbouring chieftains, who, from envy of their virtues, 
or a capricious dislike of their severe habits, seems to have 
been bent on the destruction of the society. However, 
such was the unrepining patience with which the pious 
brotherhood endured his persecution, that his hostility was 
converted into friendship, and he became, at length, their 
patron and their protector*. 

It was from the most probable accounts at the commence- 
ment of the sixth centuryf, while St. David and his friends 
still continued in their monastic seclusion, that the Pelagian 
Heresy, which, about a century earlier, had been apparently 
suppressed by the exertions of Germanus and Lupus, again 
spread its contagious influence through the British churches. 
Dubricius, or Dyvrig, at that period Archbishop of Caer- 
lleon, and consequently Primate of Wales, beheld the re- 
vival of this pestilence, with an alarm natural to his respon- 
sible station ; and he, accordingly, convoked a general synod 
at a place, since called Llanddewi Brevi, in Cardiganshire, 
for the purpose of refuting the errors of the PelagiansJ. 



St. David and his associates : and in this he is followed by John of Teign- 
mouth. 

* Giraldus, and, after him, Leland, give the name of Boias to this chief- 
tain. But the Welsh history has no account of him under this appellation, 
in which there appears to be some mistake. 

f The most probable date is 519. Some, however, fix it at 522; and 
Usher goes even so far "back as 474. 

t According to Leland, who seems here, as in former instances, to have 
followed Giraldus, Llanddewi Brevi, or St. David's of the Lowing, took 
its name from the success of the holy man's eloquence (q. d. mugitus) against 
the Pelagians. There is something, however, too fanciful in this hypo- 
thesis, to allow of its adoption. Whatever may have been the particular 
origin of the name in question, it seems to have had some connexion with 



78 

This assembly was numerously attended by individuals of 
the first distinction, both laymen and ecclesiastics, brought 
together, it may be presumed, as well by a curiosity to wit- 
ness so important a debate, as by an anxiety for the preser- 
vation of the orthodox faith. For a long time the consul- 
tation appeared to be unproductive of any decisive result : 
and the advocates of the church had the mortification of 
finding, that, notwithstanding the best exertions of their 
oratory and their zeal, the champions of Pelagianism were 
still unsubdued. In this extremity it occurred to Paulinus, 
who was present on the occasion, to have recourse to the 
assistance of his former disciple, of whose talents and sanc- 
tity he spoke in those terms of praise, which his experi- 
ence of them so well justified. Messengers were accord- 
ingly dispatched to St. David, soliciting his attendance at 
the synod, for the purpose of assisting the church in this 
hour of difficulty. Two successive invitations, however, 
proved entirely unavailing : " the holy man," to adopt the 
words of Giraldus, " was so devoted to religious contem* 
plation, as to take little or no concern in mere temporal 
matters, unless compelled by the most urgent necessity." 
In order, therefore, to impress on his mind the existence of 
such a necessity in the present case, Dubricius himself, 
accompanied by Deiniol, Bishop of Bangor, repaired to 
the residence of the pious recluse, and, at length, suc- 
ceeded in gaining him over to their cause ; and he accom- 
panied them in their return to the synod. 

the ancient tradition concerning Hu Gadarn and his oxen, as recorded in 
the Triads. What makes this probable is, that a large horn was formerly 
shewn in this parish as a relic, under the pretence that it had belonged to 
one of Hu's oxen. $ee the Cambro-Britan, vol. i. p. 127, for a translation 
of the Triad above alluded to, accompanied by some illustrative observa- 
tions. 



79 

" The fame of the saint," says Leland on this occasion, 
" flew before him, and persons of the highest celebrity 
contended for the honour of offering him the first saluta- 
tion." Such was the renown to which the habits of virtue 
and holiness, wherein the hours of St. David were spent, 
even in the privacy of his native valley, had raised him in 
popular estimation. Nor was the public hope disappointed 
in this instance. St. David, in a strain of pious eloquence, 
confuted, by unanswerable arguments, the opinions of his 
adversaries ; and " the heresy," as Giraldus informs us, 
" immediately vanished, being utterly dissipated and des- 
troyed." The enthusiastic acclamations of the assembly 
followed this signal triumph, and Dubricius himself, as if 
suddenly convinced of the superior worthiness of the Me- 
nevian recluse, insisted upon transferring to him the Pri- 
macy of the Welsh Church. St. David, however, with- 
stood, with becoming modesty, this unexpected honour, 
urging his inexperience, and general incapacity for so weighty 
a charge. Nor was it until the liberal proposal of Dubri- 
cius was, in a manner, forced upon him by the universal 
voice, that he reluctantly consented to accept of the high 
reward. The disinterested conduct of Dubricius on this 
occasion should not pass without notice. Upon the resig- 
nation of his see, he is recorded to have retired to the Isle 
of Enlli, or Bardsey, where, in the exercises of religious 
devotion, the remainder of his days was consumed*. 



* The following Welsh lines, ascribed by some, though with no great 
probability, to Aneurin, have an allusion to the retirement of Dubricius 
and others to Bardsey upon this occasion : 

Pan oedd saint senedd Vrevi 
Drwy arch y prophwydi, 
Ar ol gwiw bregeth Dewi r 
Yn myned i Ynys Enlli. 

When 



80 

St. David, thus elevated to the metropolitan see*, dis- 
charged its important duties in so exemplary manner, that, 
according to one of his biographers, " even envy itself 
could find nothing to blame." But his stay at Caerlleon 
does not appear to have been of long duration ; for desi- 
rous, perhaps, of a more retired situation, or still retaining 
his predilection for the place of his birth, he procured per- 
mission from Arthur, at that time sovereign of the Britons, 
to remove the archiepiscopal residence to the present St. 
David's. Here, for a long period, he enjoyed that tranquil- 
lity, — that optatam quietem,— which seems to have been the 
favourite object of his life ; and his time, we may presume, 
was dedicated to study and contemplation, though not 
without a proper attention to his high pastoral duties. At 
length, however, his peace was again disturbed: the de- 
mons of dissension had excited into a fresh blaze the buried 
embers of heresyf, and St. David had once more to en- 
counter the misguided disciples of Pelagius. 

With this view he summoned, probably at St. David's, 
another ecclesiastical council, at which he again overthrew 
the doctrines of his opponents, and that too in so signal a 
manner, that this second assembly has been dignified with 
the title of the Synod of Victory. The decrees of the 

When the holy synod of Brevi, 
At the instigation of the prophets, 
After the excellent preaching of David, 
Were going to the Isle of Enlli. 

* We have the authority of the Historical Triads for placing St. David in 
this high rank. He is there recorded as Primate of the Welsh Church, 
under the sovereignty of Arthur, while Bedwini and Cyndeyrn exercised 
similar functions in Cornwall and Scotland. 

t These are the words of Giraldus, who says, " cum cacodaemones ali- 
quot sepultos Pelagiani erroris cineres refociilareut." 



8i 

former council were confirmed on the present occasion; and 
the proceedings of both assemblies, which were afterwards 
sanctioned by the See of Rome, formed a code of ordinances 
for the future guidance of the Welsh church. St. David 
himself, according to Giraldus^ wrote the decrees of the last 
synod, which, with several other similar records, became a 
prey to the flames during those piratical incursions, to which 
St. David's was formerly exposed. Thus was Pelagianism 
finally extirpated from the British church ; and to St. 
David must be ascribed the honour of having, at length, 
overcome this obstinate heresy. 

The remaining time, during which St. David enjoyed 
the Primacy of Wales, was, we may presume, devoted to 
the cares of his see, and the cultivation of genuine Chris- 
tianity. Agreeably with this supposition, we find that he 
founded several churches and other religious institutions in 
South Wales, besides the Bishopric of St. David's*, and 
that he displayed, in his life and actions, a bright example 
of the duties that belong to a Christian pastor. But he is 
said, for some time previous to his death, to have resigned 
his high office, become perhaps, at length, from his great 



* He is said to have founded nineteen churches in South Wales : viz. 
three in Brecknockshire, two in Cardiganshire, two in Carmarthenshire, 
one in Glamorganshire, three in Monmouthshire, four in Pembrokeshire, 
and four in the county of Radnor ; in addition to which, many others have 
been dedicated to him in later times. The Bishopric of St. Davids, now a 
suffraisan itself, anciently reckoned seven, or, according to Giraidus, 
twelve suffragans within its metropolitan pale. The seven alluded to were 
Worcester, Hereford, St. Asaph, Baugor, Llandav, Llanbadarn, and Mar- 
gam. Among the ecclesiastical foundations, asciibed to St. David, is num- 
bered, by some writers, St. Mary's of Glastonbury ; but the reputed date of 
the event, A. D. 566, seems to deprive the statement of all pretensions to 
authenticity. However Usher has adopted it, as weli indeed as many other 
notices relating to Wales, for which there is no good authority. 

G 



82 

age, more burdensome than he could well sustain, and 
again to have sought the retirement he had before, with re- 
luctance, abandoned. Whatever credit may be due to this 
assertion, it appears certain, from the concurrent testimony 
of his biographers, that his last days were spent at St. 
David's, where he died about the year 544, after having 
attained a very advanced age*. There too his remains 
were deposited; and his shrine continued, for centuries, 
the object of such particular veneration, that two pilgri- 
mages to it were, in the days of papal darkness, held to be 
of equal efficacy with one to Romef. 

Such is the brief memoir, which history supplies of the 
Cambrian saint. To have multiplied the incidents of his 
life would, indeed, have been no difficult task, if we had 
been disposed to follow the guidance of his legendary bio- 
graphers. For St. David, like Arthur, has been invested 
with all the extravagance of romantic decoration ; and the 
inventive credulity of superstition has not been wanting to 
the completion of his imaginary renown. According to the 
popular legends, he had not merely the power of work- 
ing miracles from the moment of his birth ; but the same 



* The apocryphal writers make him one hundred and forty-seven years 
when he died ; " therein agreeing," as they say, " with the age of the Patri- 
arch Jacob." The more probable accounts represent him to have been 
between eighty and ninety. 

t Accordingly, we have the following monkish verses in allusion to this 
subject : — 

Roma dabit quantum, dat bis Menevia tantura — 
and again, 

Meneviam si bis, et Romam si semel ibis, 
Merces aequa tibi redditur hie et ibi. 

Davydd ab Gwilym, a poet of the 14th century, made a pilgrimage to St. 
David's, of which he has left an interesting account* 



83 

preternatural faculty even belonged to him while in his 
mother's womb. And, as if to give him an hereditary title 
to this divine attribute, his genealogy has, with a puerile 
profaneness, been traced to the Holy Virgin herself*. But 
there are, on the other hand, incidents ascribed to St. 
David, which, although not strictly beyond the verge of 
probability, do not appear sufficiently supported, to be in- 
corporated with a memoir, that aims only at retaining what 
is authentic. Such, for example, are his reputed pilgri- 
mages to Rome and Jerusalem, which some highly respect- 
able authors have, however, received as historical memo- 
rials of the Menevian saintf. But, as they want the sanction 
of the early Welsh records, and are, besides, at variance 
with other parts of his life, as well as with the habits and 
opportunities of the times, their admission into this narrative 
has not been deemed warrantable. 

The biographers of St. David, and, above all, Giraldus, 
whose testimony, however, is far from being, in all instances, 
unimpeachable, speak of him in terms of high encomium. 
And, as they ascribe to him virtues, which are strictly in 
unison with the reputed tenour of his life, it requires no 
extraordinary powers of faith to give assent to the por- 

* Among the popular legends, here alluded to, the pretended life of St. 
David, in Welsh, in the Cotton MSS. (D. XXII.) is the most remarkable for 
its spurious embellishments. Of the numerous miracles, which it imputes 
to the saint, two of them precede his birth. It also deduces his pedigree, as 
above noticed, from the Virgin Mary, of whom it makes him the eighteenth 
lineal descendant. His death is there stated to have taken place on the 1st 
of March, when " Jesus Christ took to him the soul of St. David." The 
title of this MS., to which much more value has been attached than obviously 
belongs to it, is as follows : " Llyma y treithir o ach Dewi ac o dalym o'i 
vuched." It is handsomely illuminated, and seems to have been the work 
of the middle ages. 

f Among these may be enumerated Leland, and the intelligent author of 
" Hofa Britannica" 

g2 



84 

trait they draw. According to this, and, in the words of 
Giraldus, St. David was " a, mirror and pattern to all, in- 
structing both by word and example, excellent in his 
preaching, but still more so in his works. He was a doe- 
trine to all, a guide to the religious, a life to the poor, a 
support to orphans, a protection to widows, a father to the 
fatherless, a rule to monks, and a model to teachers ; be- 
coming all to all, that so he might gain all to God." To 
this his moral character he added a high reputation for 
theological learning; and two productions, a Book of Ho- 
milies and a Treatise against the Pelagians, have been as- 
cribed to him. Nor, in the tribute paid to his memory, 
have his external accomplishments been forgotten: he is 
described as of a fair complexion, and of a noble stature*, 
and as having united with these personal advantages a 
gentle deportment and an amiable disposition. 

But, however eminent the natural or acquired qualities 
of St. David may have been, however exemplary his piety, 
or however strict his life, it is his valuable services to the 
British church, and, through that, to the cause of Chris- 
tianity itself, that entitles him to the rank he holds in the 
biographical annals of Walesf . As the founder of so many 
Christian establishments, and as the triumphant opponent 



* Bale says, his height was four cubits. 

f He is numbered in the Triads, with Teilo and Catwg, as one of the 
' three canonizedsaints of Britain." But it has already been intimated, 
that the pre-emiuence, assigned to him as Patron Saint of Wales, is of foreign 
origin. St. David, indeed, appears to have had more superstitious houours 
paid to him in England than in his native country. Thus, in the days of 
Papacy, the following collect was read in the old church of Sarum on the 
1st of March: — " O God, who by thy angel didst foretel thy blessed Confes- 
sor, St. David, thirty years before he was born, grant unto us, we beseech 
thee, that, celebrating his memory, we may, by his intercession, attain to 
joys everlasting," 



85 

of the Pelagian heresy, he may fairly be regarded as the 
pillar of the church during that unsettled age. Surrounded 
as he was by many zealous champions of our holy faith, he 
still appears to have soared above them with a superior 
dignity ; and the ecclesiastical history of his country owes 
to him a splendour at once pure and imperishable, 



$6 



ASSER MENEVENSIS. 

Among the luminaries of an obscure age the individual, 
whose name is prefixed to this memoir, is particularly de- 
serving of notice. Not, indeed, that his fame has any re- 
markable connexion with the history or literature of Wales, 
but, as he was both by birth and education a Welshman, he 
has acquired a sufficient claim to be enrolled among the 
eminent characters of the Principality. 

Asser or Aser, as the name has been variously written, 
was a native of the county of Pembroke in South Wales, 
and of a place, which is still supposed to have derived 
from him the name of Trev Asser, or Asser's Town. 
Of the precise time of his birth, however, there is no ac- 
count ; but, from his presumed age, when invited by Al- 
fred, it may be inferred, that he first saw the light about 
the middle of the ninth century. Time has left us no me- 
morials of the juvenile years or early studies of this distin- 
guished ornament of his country; but his education, where- 
ver commenced, was completed in the monastery of St. 
David's, where he assumed the cowl of the Benedictine 
order, and from which place he derived his epithet of Me- 
nevensis*. St. David's was, at the time under considera- 
tion, the chief seat of learning in Wales, if not indeed in 
the whole island ; for it does not appear to have had any 
rivals, in this respect, among other cotemporary institutions. 
Asser is recorded to have prosecuted his studies there 

* Taken from Menevia, the Latin name by which St. David's was for- 
merly known, and which was adopted from the Welsh Mynyw, as noticed in 
the preceding memoir. 



87 

under the direction of that celebrated scholar, Johannes 
Patricius, better known, perhaps, by the name of Erigena, 
while he also enjoyed the occasional assistance, as well as 
the general patronage, of his own kinsman and, as some re- 
port, his namesake*, who then presided over the see and 
monastery of St. David's. Under these auspicious circum- 
stances his talents soon burst forth in all their natural lux- 
uriance ; and the rumour of his attainments speedily circu- 
lated throughout the country, extending even far beyond 
the confines of Wales. 

His fame at length reached the ears of the illustrious 
Alfred ; and by so celebrated a patron of genius and learn- 
ing it could not be heard with indifference. Accordingly, 
about the year 880, that prince dispatched messengers to 
St. David's, with a special invitation to Asser to accompany 
them in their return to the Saxon court. Asser, it appears, 
lost no time in obeying this summons, and, after a long and 
laborious journey^, reached Dean in Wiltshire, at that time 

* Leland calls him " Asserius Menevensis, Archbishop of St. David's" ; 
and, if he be right, it may be the same person, to whom Caradog, the histo- 
rian of Wales, alludes, when he informs us, that " Asser the Wise, Archbishop 
of the Britons, died A. D. 906." For it does not seem probable, that this 
Could apply to the Asser, who is the subject of this memoir. It deserves to 
be remarked, however, that the ancient Welsh records contain no other 
notices of the elder Asser. Some indeed give the name of Nobis or Noris 
to this kinsman of Asser; but, according to Usher, this has arisen from the 
misreading of a passage in Asser's Life of Alfred, in whicli tiie Latin pro- 
noun nobis is transformed, into a proper name. If that be the case, Asser 
makes use of no name, but merely says, " archiepiscopum propinquum 
meum." The Welsh histories, it may be added, have no such name as No- 
bis. Nonis and Namis, indeed, are given by Giraldus and Godwin respec- 
tively in their catalogues of the Bishops of St. David's ; but these may be 
only different versions of the original error, above alluded to. 

f The manner, in which Asser speaks of this journey, affords a proof, if 
any were wanting, of the little intercourse that existed between the diffe- 



88 

the residence of the English monarch, by whom he was 
received with every mark of the liveliest welcome. The 
joy, thus evinced on the part of Alfred, soon ripened into 
the most sincere friendship, and he urged his favourite in 
the strongest terms, and by a promise of high rewards, to 
quit St. David's, and establish his abode in future at the 
Saxon court. This proposal, however alluring, Asser felt 
it proper respectfully but resolutely to decline, honourably 
avowing his attachment to the place of his education, as 
well as to the religious duties he had there to discharge, 
and which, he thought, he ought not to abandon for any 
foreign preferment. After much farther persuasion, how- 
ever, the king procured from him a promise, that he would 
divide the year equally between the English court and St. 
David's, provided he could obtain the consent of his brother 
ecclesiastics at the latter place to this arrangement. With 
the view of consulting them on this point, Asser received 
the king's permission to revisit his native eountry, upon un- 
dertaking to return to the court at an appointed period. 
He, accordingly, set out for St. David's, but had the mis- 
fortune, when arrived at Winchester, to be seized with a 
malignant fever, under which, to use his own words, " he 
languished for twelve months and a week, suffering severely 
night and day, without any hope of surviving." In the 
mean time, the day stipulated for Asser's return having 
passed, Alfred became naturally impatient, and wrote to 
inquire the cause of his delay. The messenger, having 
found him at Winchester, returned with an answer from 

rent parts of the island in that age. u His temporibus," says our author in 
the Life of Alfred, « ego quoque, rege advocatus, de occiduis et ultima; 
Britannia? fiuibus ad Saxoniam adveni." It appears, too, when he speaks 
of journeying, on this occasion, " per njulta terrarum spatia," that the means 
at travelling were not quite so expeditious as in the present day. 



89 

Asser, who, soon after recovering, pursued his journey to 
St. David's. 

The result of the conference, which he had with his 
friends upon reaching the place of his destination, was de- 
cidedly favourable to his compliance with the wishes of 
Alfred ; for the religious fraternity of St. David's were 
in hopes, by such means, of gaining a powerful protector 
against one of the chieftains of South Wales, by whom 
they had been for some time oppressed*. They accord- 
ingly foresaw, in imagination at least, considerable advan- 
tage in this connexion between their renowned countryman 
and the English monarch ; but, unwilling to surrender the 
society of the former for so long a period as six months at 
a time, they engaged him to stipulate for a quarterly resi- 
dence only at each place ; and, with this modification of 
the original proposal, Asser returned to his royal patron. 

The manner in which, on this occasion, he was greeted 
by Alfred, must have been peculiarly gratifying to his 
feelings, if not also flattering to his pride. He found the 
king at Leonford, and was received by him with every 
indication of the most generous attachment ; and so much 
did he grow in favour with his royal Maecenas, that he . 
never quitted him during the next eight months, thus soon 
forgetting or disregarding the stipulation, which his col- 

* Asser gives the name of Hemeid to this chieftain, whom he dignifies 
with the title of king. The only name, however, of any note during this 
period of Welsh history, .that at all resembles Hemeid, isEuneth or Eunydd, 
the son of Bledryd, a baron of South Wales, who, according to H. Llwyd, 
died about A. D. 895; but there is no other notice of him. Anarawd, in- 
deed, son of Roderic the Great, laid waste a great part of South Wales abont 
the same period ; but there seems no affinity between the names. The dif- 
ficulty, however, is hardly worth solving; but it maybe proper here to 
notice, that almost all the Welsh names in the writings of Asser have suf- 
fered miserably from the carelessness or ignorance of transcribers. 



90 

leagues at St. David's had instructed him to make. The 
time, that Alfred and his favourite thus spent together, was 
devoted to the pursuits of literature and science ; and the 
prince appears to have regarded Asser in the light of an 
experienced tutor, while he, on the other hand, imparted 
to his august pupil the full benefit of his talents and infor- 
mation. It cannot be doubted, that the advantages, which 
Alfred derived from these social lucubrations, must have 
been peculiarly great, especially when we consider the 
congeniality of disposition and genius, that existed between 
him and his preceptor. Nor was the monarch slow in 
evincing his gratitude for these important services, since 
we find, that on Christmas eve, succeeding Asser's return, 
probably in the year 882, he bestowed upon him the mo- 
nasteries of Ambresbury in Wiltshire, and Banwell in 
Somersetshire. This preferment was accompanied by the 
donation of a silk pall of great value, and as much incense 
as a man could carry, with which the king sent a note to 
his friend, intimating, " that these were but small things, 
and by way of earnest of greater that should follow them." 
Not long after this, Asser was promoted, in rapid succes- 
sion, to the bishoprics of Exeter and Sherbourne* ; and he 
is said to have been subsequently translated to a still higher 
dignity, the name of which, however, his biographers have 
not preserved. Yet, whether this was the fact or not, he 
retained until his death the title of Bishop of Sherbourne. 
From the period of his elevation to this see his whole time 
appears to have been spent at the court of his royal bene- 

* Upon the occasion of this preferment Leland bursts out into the fol- 
lowing enthusiastic exclamation. " O fortunatum juxta et cordatum prin- 
cipem, qui potuit et voluit hujusmodi sortis hominem evangelico opere prae- 
ficere ! O fortunatiorem pontificem, cui contigit sub tam pio principe sancto 
fungi officio !" 



91 

factor : at least we have no account of any portion of it 
having been dedicated to the place of his education, agree- 
ably with the terms originally proposed. His episcopal 
functions, and the partiality of his prince, served, perhaps, 
in time, to disunite, though not absolutely to estrange, him 
from his native land. It was, probably, during this period 
of his life that he assisted Alfred in the compilation of that 
famous body of laws, which has ever since formed the 
grand pedestal of this monarch's fame. And there are 
reasons for believing that Asser rendered, on this occasion, 
the most important services, by a communication of the 
ancient laws of Wales, especially those of the celebrated 
British legislator, Dyvnwal Moelmud, commonly called by 
English writers Moelmutms*. A Latin copy of these, 
presented by him to Alfred, is said to have been translated 
by that prince into the Saxon tongue -f; and, from the strong 

* This ancient legislator is thought to have lived about three centuries 
before the Christian era, and is recorded in the Chronicles as the twenty- 
first king of Britain. He is said to have been the first to divide the king- 
dom into commotes or hundreds, for which he is commemorated in the 
Historical Triads as one of the " three system-formers of Britain." Other 
notices respecting him occur in the same ancient records, and he is particu- 
larly celebrated for having first reduced to a system the laws and privileges 
of the Cymry. This code was extant in the time of Gildas, who translated 
it into Latin ; and it was, most probably, this translation that was presented, 
as above mentioned, by Asser to King Alfred. The same eode was after- 
wards of considerable service to Hy wel Dda, when arranging the Laws of 
Wales. Some Institutional and Law Triads, ascribed to Moelmud, are still 
extant, apd are to be found in the Welsh Archaiology. An English version 
of a part of these has recently been published by the Cymmrodorion, or 
Cambrian Institution, in the first volume of their " Transactions." 

t Dr. Powell in his notes on H. Llwyd's " Historie of Cambria," says, 
that Alfred " translated the ancient laws of Dyvnwal Moelmud, king of 
Britain, and the laws of Marsia, queen of Britain, wife of Cyhelyn, out of 
British into English." . 



92 

analogy occasionally to be traced between the English 
common law and the Welsh ordinances, there can be 
scarcely a doubt, that, in the foundation of the former, the 
latter were, in no small degree, instrumental. Nor will this 
be a matter of surprise, when it is known that, while the 
Saxons were, with respect to literary and political know- 
ledge, in the most abject darkness, the Britons had advanced 
to a state of comparative civilization. At least, there are 
several literary remains of great antiquity in the Welsh 
tongue, which indicate, in the people to whom they be- 
longed, no mean proficiency in the science of jurisprudence. 
Nor was it in the arts of government only that Asser is 
supposed to have transferred to his adopted country the 
benefits which his native soil had to bestow. It is asserted 
by several writers, and the assertion rests on very plau- 
sible grounds, that, at his suggestion, Alfred founded, 
or considerably improved, the University of Oxford. And 
it is reasonable to suppose, that Asser, on this occasion, 
availed himself of his experience in the laws and discipline 
of similar institutions in Wales, where, before the time of 
Alfred, as already incidentally noticed, learning had counted 
her proudest temples and her most zealous votaries. The 
subject of this biographical sketch deserves, then, to be 
commemorated, not more for the important services he 
was thus instrumental in rendering to England, than for 
the honour which those services reflect on the land of his 
birth. 

. To the more private studies of Alfred we have already 
seen that the talents of Asser proved of the most essential 
advantage ; and in his life of that prince he has detailed 
some interesting anecdotes of the manner in which they 
spent their hours of literary retirement. Among these we 
learn, that Asser was in the frequent habit of citing re- 



93 

markable passages from the most eminent writers, and that 
a quotation, which he made upon one occasion, so gratified 
the prince, that he requested to have it committed to paper. 
Asser, improving this hint, suggested the use of a common- 
place book, or album, in which all similar passages might 
be entered. The suggestion was immediately adopted, 
and became the foundation of an extensive collection, still 
extant, which Alfred calls his " hand-book or manual,'' 
and to which Asser has given the title of " Enchiridion." 
In the same unconstrained and confidential manner did the 
prince and his instructor prosecute their studies, forgetting 
their disparity of rank in those affinities of talent and mind, 
which are ever the strongest cement of friendship. In ad- 
dition to the general aid thus imparted by Asser to his 
illustrious patron, it is probable that he assisted him in most 
of the works which Alfred has bequeathed to posterity. In 
one of these, a Translation of Gregory's Pastoral Letter, 
the royal author, in his Prefatory Epistle, expressly acknow- 
ledges the assistance he had received from Asser, whom he 
styles, with a familiar partiality, "his bishop," instead of 
using, as in the case of other individuals, the titular desig- 
nation. In similar terms of attachment Alfred also speaks 
of him in his will, which proves the distinguished confidence 
with which Asser was honoured. 

There are grounds for supposing, that the subject of this 
memoir remained at the English court during the whole 
reign of Alfred, and even for some years afterwards ; but 
of the decline of his life we have no certain account. His 
death is positively fixed by the Saxon Chronicle in the year 
910, while, acoording to other authorities, it happened a 
year earlier ; but the place, in which he breathed his last, 
has been left unrecorded Nor has it been permitted to 
posterity to pay at his tomb the tribute due to his memory. 



94 

No trace survives, whereby his last earthly tenement is 
now to be known. 

It has been a subject of controversy with some writers, 
whether Asser, Bishop of Sherbourne, and Asser the Monk, 
are to be regarded as one individual. Without presuming 
to decide this point, we may be allowed to suggest, that the 
same person may, very possibly, have enjoyed, at different 
periods, both designations, as indeed seems, to have been 
actually the case in the instance before us. That Asser 
was Bishop of Sherbourne is generally admitted ; and that 
he had been previously initiated as a monk at St. David's 
is no less certainly known. But this question may safely be 
left in its assumed ambiguity, without any detriment to the 
acknowledged fame of the individual, whose life is here 
briefly recorded. 

Another point, upon which authors have differed, is the 
number of works to be ascribed to Asser. Some have enu- 
merated six as still extant, as well as many others no longer in 
being. The six alluded to are, — 1. The Annals of Alfred's 
Life and Reign* ; 2. The Annals of Britain ; 3. The En- 
chiridion, already mentioned, entitled, Enchiridion Aurea- 
rum Sententiarum ; 4. A Commentary on Boethius ; 5. A 
Collection of Homilies ; and 6. A Collection of Epistles. Of 
these, the first three alone appear to have Asser for their 
author ; the first, at least, has never been disputed, and the 
other two bear internal marks of their genuineness. The 
fourth seems to have reference merely to some illustrations 
of the Treatise of Boethius on the Consolation of Philo- 

* This work, the only one, perhaps, that may, without dispute, be as- 
signed to Asser, was first published by Abp. Parker at the conclusion of the 
" Walsingharae History" in 1574. It was afterwards reprinted by Camden 
in his " Anglica, Normanica, &c." in 1603, and, lastly, by Mr. Vise, at 
Oxford, in 1722. 



95 

sophy, which were communicated to Alfred while he was 
translating that work into Saxon*. The existence likewise 
of the last two works above mentioned, seems to be unsup- 
ported by any credible testimony. 

It remains now to notice the hypothesis of an eminent 
Welsh scholarf , that Asser Menevensis is to be identified 
with an ancient writer of the name of Geraint, the reputed 
author of the first Grammar of the Welsh tongue, as well 
as of some moral and didactic productions in the same lan- 
guage still extantj. This writer, according to the ancient 
custom of Wales, bore the assumed appellation of the Blue 
Bard, from which it may be inferred, that he united a talent 
for poetry with the qualifications already implied. It is 
true that Geraint, like Asser, was a native of Wales, and 
that he lived during the ninth century ; and, like him too, 
he may have received his education at the monastery of St. 
David's. But the ground, upon which the assumption of 
their identity has been mainly erected, is the supposition 
that Asser, or rather Aser, was, according to the barbarous 
latinity of that age, but another name for azure or blue ; 
and that it was, therefore, adopted, for the purpose of re- 
taining the bardic appellation above specified. There is 
certainly nothing very extravagant in this conjecture, and it 
has the advantage of being supported by examples of a si- 



* Leland, indeed, seems positively to state, on the authority of the Chro- 
nicle of St. Neots, that Asser was the author of such a " Commentary."— 
" Interpretatus est librum Boetii de Coosolatione Philosophise, aut, ut ve- 
rbs loqnar, lucidis commentariolis illustravit," are the words of Leland. 
However, as no work of this kind is now extant, the conclusion in the text 
seems the most probable. 
t Mr. Owen (now Dr. Owen Pughe) in his « Cambrian Biography." 
t These are to be found in the third volume of the Welsh Archaiolcgy. 



96 

milar practice*. Nor is it, moreover, unreasonable to pre- 
sume, that Asser had devoted much of his early years to 
the cultivation of his native tongue, as well, perhaps, as of his 
national muse. And, were it capable of being ascertained, 
that we owe to him what have descended to us under the 
name of Geraint, an additional motive would be supplied 
for venerating his fame, and for enrolling him among the 
literary ornaments of the Principality. But it must still be 
admitted, that the probability of this rests on no very stable 
foundation. However pleasing the hypothesis, it is the 
duty of the historian to state, that it merits no higher cha- 
racter. 

Enough, however, remains, in the acknowledged notices 
of Asser, to entitle his memory to our respect, and to confer 
on him the reputation of being one of the brightest stars of 
the clouded hemisphere, in which it was his fate to shine. 
He had, evidently, amassed a considerable fund of such 
learning as the times could supply ; and it was his peculiar 
felicity to be placed in a station, in which his acquirements 
became productive of honour to himself and of signal ad- 
vantage to others. Enjoying, in an eminent degree, the 
friendship of a liberal and enlightened prince, he availed 
himself of the rare opportunity, to render his talents in" 
strumental in the promotion of good government, and in the 
extension of literary knowledge. Animated by the example 
of his illustrious patron, who at once rewarded and rivalled 
his genius, he gave a practical proof of the benefits that 
result to a state, where the prince is himself a votary of 

* Upon this principle Lleuver, Morgan, and Bleiddan, celebrated ecclesi- 
astics of the second, fourth, and fifth centuries, assumed the names of Lu- 
cius, Pelagius, aud Lupus, which are but Latin versions of their original 
appellations. 



97 

learning, and can appreciate its value in others*. To these 
his general attainments and talents Asser must have added 
a comprehensive acquaintance with the literature of his na- 
tive country, or at least with its more important branches. 
We have seen this knowledge evinced in the services which 
he rendered to his royal benefactor, upon the erection of 
that fabric of jurisprudence, which has exalted the name of 
Alfred among those of the most eminent legislators. And, 
whether Asser be regarded as a humble participator in this 
splendid work, or as the peculiar friend of literature by the 
encouragement of its infant establishments, or, finally, with 
reference to his general fame, Wales has ample reason to 
rejoice in his well-earned celebrity. 

* Leland, while contemplating the literary union that existed between 
these distinguished individuals, exclaims — " Nae ille igitur recte sapiebat, 
qui scripsit c felicem rempubticam fore, ubi princeps doctus esset, aut doc- 
trinae solide faveat'." 



H 



98 



HYWEL DDA. 

Of all the benefits enjoyed by a nation, those, which it re- 
ceives from a wise and provident lawgiver, are at once the 
most important and the most permanent. Other acquisi- 
tions may indeed be more brilliant, but none can be more 
salutary. The triumphs of arms or the accession of territory 
may bestow glory or power ; but it is left to the silent work 
of legislation to communicate to a state those imperishable 
attributes, that " grow with its growth and strengthen with 
its strength," that constitute, as it were, its vital essence, 
and are only to be destroyed when the nation itself has 
ceased to exist. The fame of the conqueror is often swept 
from our view like the blaze in which it was nurtured ; 
but the wise prince, that studies by wholesome laws to pro- 
mote the welfare of his people, identifies his renown with 
that of his country, and builds on her prosperity a deathless 
name. Hence Lycurgus and Solon, among the ancient 
Greeks, and Justinian and Alfred, in more modern nations 
and times, are deservedly numbered among the benefactors 
of their race ; and to their memory belongs a lustre propor- 
tionate with the benefits they conferred on their fellow men. 
Nor ought the insignificance of the particular nation 
concerned to detract any thing from the justice of the pre- 
ceding remarks, as though, in a small state, there were no 
opportunity for the exemplification of great virtues. Had 
this been true, the world would never have heard of the 
celebrated lawgiver of Sparta. But it will be obvious to 
the liberal inquirer, that, however inconsiderable the people, 
the fame of their rulers is not necessarily contracted within 
the limited circle to which it owes its existence. Superior 



99 

endowments and pre-eminent virtues, to whatever space 
their operation may have been confined, become in time 
the inheritance of the world ; and he, who by the wisdom of 
his legislation may have secured the happiness of a small 
community, would, no doubt, have diffused similar benefits 
through any wider sphere in which his lot might have been 
cast. 

Under such circumstances lived the individual, who forms 
the subject of the present brief memoir ; for brief it must 
be, since time has left but few traces of his quiet and un- 
ambitious career. Though destined to fill a humble throne, 
he possessed qualities that might have graced the most il- 
lustrious. But the candid reader will know how to appre- 
ciate the character of a patriot prince, even though his 
dominions extended not beyond the mountain barriers of 
Wales. 

Hywel Dda, or Howell the Good, — for such is the honour- 
able title his countrymen have conferred on him, — was born 
about the close of the ninth century. His father was 
Cadell, eldest son of Rhodri, surnamed the Great, and to 
whom that prince had, on his death, allotted the province 
of Dinevwr in South Wales, bestowing, at the same time, on 
his two other sons, Anarawd and Mervyn, the provinces 
of Aberfraw and Powys, constituting, with Dinevwr, the 
three portions into which Rhodri had rather injudiciously 
divided the Principality*. Upon the death of Cadell, in the 

* It is only meant here that Rhodri, or Roderic, was the first to disunite 
these constituent portions of Wales, and thus to weaken the general power 
of the country by the civil broils to which this disunion subsequently gave 
rise. But, in reality, Wales had long before possessed three distinct terri- 
tories, corresponding generally with the divisions adopted by Rhodri. Al- 
though the Welsh histories give us the names of Dinevwr, Aberfraw, and 
Powys, the more proper designations for the two former would be Deheu- 

H 2 



100 

year 907, Hywel succeeded to his patrimonial territory ia 
South Wales, as well as to Powys in North Wales, of which 
his father had, in 877, dispossessed his own brother Mervyn, 

Six years after Hywel had become possessed of his he- 
reditary dominions, his uncle Anarawd, prince of Aberfraw, 
died, and Hywel, according to some authorities, succeeded 
on this occasion to the nominal sovereignty of all Wales, 
assuming, at the same time, the guardianship of his cou- 
sins, the sons of Anarawd*. However, be this as it may, 
it was not until twenty-seven years afterwards that, upon 
the death of Idwal Voel, he actually enjoyed the full do- 
minion of the Principality. 

But Hywel did not wait for this event to carry into exe- 
cution the plans which he had meditated for the benefit of 
his country. When he had succeeded to his patrimonial 
possessions, he had soon an opportunity of witnessing the 
numerous abuses, which were prevalent in Wales owing to 
the diversity and uncertainty of the existing laws. And no 
sooner had he made this discovery, than he resolved upon 
using his best exertions towards providing a remedy for the 
evil. Accordingly, as a preliminary step towards this pa- 
triotic design, he set out for Rome, as we learn from the 
historian Caradog, in the year 926, accompanied by three 

barth, and Gvvynedd, which embraced, with some exceptions, the modern 
South and North Wales, while Powys comprised all the land between the 
Wye and the Severn, and, consequently, extended considerably beyond the 
present limits of the Principality. According to the Historical Triads, the 
eldest of the three princes, in possession of these several portions of Wales, 
was to exercise a paramount dominion over the other two. — See the Cam- 
bro-Briton, vol. ii. p. 438. 

* It was, most probably, for the reason mentioned at the conclusion of 
the last note, that Hywel thus assumed the titular supremacy over his ne- 
phews. Anarawd left two sons, Idwal Voel and Elis, the former of whom 
succeeded to the sovereignty of Gvvynedd. 



101 

Welsh bishops*, for the purpose of obtaining such informa- 
tion as might aid his views, and especially with a desire of 
ascertaining the particular laws that were in force in Bri- 
tain, while it was under the sway of the Roman emperors. 

To whatever extent Hywel may have succeeded in the 
object of this journey — one at that period of no ordinary 
magnitude — it appears certain that he made little or no 
use of the imperial code in that, which he subsequently 
compiled for the government of his subjects. He had, 
no doubt, the discrimination to perceive, that the Roman 
laws had been framed for a people of habits essentially dif- 
ferent from those of his own countrymen at the period in 
question. More than four centuries had weaned the Bri- 
tons alike from the empire and customs of Rome ; and 
thus, left again to themselves, they had resumed their an- 
cient laws and institutions, subject only to those changes and 
disorders, which the alteration of times, and the prevalence 
of intestine divisions, were so well calculated to introduce. 

Upon Hywel's return from Rome, he seems to have lost 
no time in prosecuting still farther the important design 
he had undertaken. With this view, he immediately sum- 
moned a national convention or councilf, at the White 
House on the Tav, the same that, under the name of Whit- 
land Abbey, had been before celebrated as the place at 
which St. David received his education, and of which some 
ruins are still to be seen. This council was composed of 

* These were— Martin, bishop of Mynyw or St. David's, Mordav, bishop 
of Bangor, and Marchiwys, bishop of Llandav ; and they had with the:n, as 
Caradog relates, the learned Blegwryd, afterwards noticed in the course of 
this memoir. 

f The Welsh historians generally date this event after Hywel's succes-. 
sion to the. full sovereignty of the Principality; but we prefer following the 
authority of Caradog, who appropriates it to the period here specified, when 
Hywel was lord paramount only, not sovereign, of all Wale?. 



102 

six of the wisest and most discreet men out of every com- 
mote* in Wales, and of one hundred and forty ecclesiastics 
of various degrees, together with all the chiefs of tribes, and 
other persons of noble rank in the Principality ; thus con- 
stituting an assembly not very dissimilar, in its formation, 
from that which has since become the glory of the whole 
island under the name of the Parliament. It was at the 
beginning of Lent that Hywel convoked this council, and, 
actuated as well perhaps by a consideration of the particu- 
lar period as by the magnitude of the object he had in 
view, he remained with the whole assembly in prayer and 
fasting throughout the holy season, " craving," according 
to one of the Welsh historians*f, " the assistance and direc- 
tion of God's holy spirit, that he might reform the laws and 
customs of the country of Wales, to the honour of God 
and the quiet government of the people." Whatever our 
less rigid notions of piety may teach us in these times to 
think of this ceremony, it must be allowed to have been in 
conformity with the manners of that age, and not wholly 
at variance with the interesting importance of the occasion. 
When, at the end of Lent, these preliminary solemnities 
were brought to a close, Hywel gave directions, that twelve 
of the most experienced individuals should be set apart 
from the number present, in order that, with the assistance 
of Blegwryd, chancellor of Llandav, and the most distin- 
guished scholar and lawyer of that age, they should pro- 
ceed to a revision of the ancient laws of Wales, so that such 
only might be retained as were conducive to good govern- 
ment, and applicable to the particular character of the 
times. Blegwryd and his associates entered immediately 



* A commote, in Welsh cwmmicd, comprised, according to the laws of 
Hywel, twelve manors and two hamlets. 

Dr. Powell, in his additions to H. Lhvyd's " Historie of Cambria." 



103 

on the task, and, after a careful and laborious research, 
concurred, according to the testimony of Caradog, in se- 
lecting the laws of Dyvnwal Moelmud as the foundation of 
the new code*. These were accordingly reduced to a sys- 
tematic form, and, with appropriate illustrations, submitted 
to the judgment of the national convention, by whom they 
were finally adopted with such additions and alterations as 
the changes of manners and circumstances had made ne- 
cessary. 

When this was done, the new laws received the sanction 
of Hywel, who, in order that the occasion might not want 
its full measure of ceremonial solemnity, directed, that " the 
malediction of God, of that assembly, and of all Wales, 
should be invoked against all such as should violate them, 
as well as against those, by whom they might be corruptly 
administeredf ." Thus were these famous institutes esta- 
blished by the national vote, with the consent of the sove- 
reign, according to the ancient usage of Wales J. 

* See p. 91, suprd., in the notes, for some account of Dyvnwal and the 
laws that have been ascribed to him. 

f These are the words of the preamble, which introduces the laws of 
Hywel ; and it appears from other sources, that sentence of excommunica- 
tion against all offenders was, on this occasion, pronounced by the Bishop 
of St. David's. 

t According to some of the Law Triads, ascribed to Dyvnwal Moelmud, 
the constitutional assembly of the ancient Britons or Cymry, at which tbe 
legislative proceedings and other important affairs of the nation were trans- 
acted, was composed of the sovereign, rulers, chiefs of clans, and men of 
wisdom throughout the country. To this assembly belonged, as already 
intimated, the power of making and repealing laws, of forming treaties of 
alliance, and of regulating the succession to the throne. In a word, this 
convention possessed a paramount authority, to which all other courts 
and councils were amenable. A translation of the ancient Triads, relating 
to this curious subject, may be seen in the " Transactions of the Cyramrod- 
orion," recently published, p. 104, &c. 



104 

But Hywel, notwithstanding the prudent precautions he 
had thus adopted in this legislative measure, seems still 
to have thought his work incomplete, as long as any thing 
remained to be done by which it might acquire an additional 
weight. With this view, he resolved upon a second jour- 
ney to Rome, for the purpose of soliciting for his new code 
the countenance of the papal see. They, who are ac- 
quainted with the depravity of the Romish church, and 
more particularly of the court of Rome, at this period, may 
feel some surprise, that a man of Hywel's acknowledged sa- 
gacity should have stooped to the degradation of seeking 
any favour from so polluted a source. For, so corrupt in its 
doctrinal character, so benighted in ignorance, so lost in 
the practice of every species of iniquity was the church of 
Rome at the period in question, that it may be thought to 
have been a sort of infatuation which could have persuaded 
Hywel, that his laws would derive either force or credit 
from such a sanction*. Yet it must not, on the other 

* The old ecclesiastical historians abound in allusions to the ignorance 
.and degeneracy of the Romish church, at the beginning of the tenth century. 
Even to embody the substance of these would far exceed the bounds of a 
note : one or two detached extracts must therefore suffice. Phil. Burgo- 
mensis, speaking of the years 906 and 908, says, " it happened in that age, 
through the slothfulness of men, that there was a general decay of virtue 
both in the head and members. And these times," he adds, " through the 
ambition and cruel tyranny of the Popes, were extremely unhappy ; for the 
Popes, setting aside the fear of God and his worship, fell into such en- 
mities amongst themselves, as cruel tyrants exercise towards one another." 
Genebrard, also, #n allusion to the same period, says, " this is called the 
unhappy age, being destitute of men eminent for wit and learning, as also 
of famous princes and popes. In this time there was scarcely any thing 
done worthy of being remembered by posterity." But the age, he after- 
wards adds, " was chiefly unhappy in this one thing, that, for almost a hun- 
dred and fifty years, about fifty Popes did utterly degenerate from the vir- 
tiies of their ancestors."— Chron. 1. 4. And Sigonius, speaking of the same 



105 

hand, be forgotten, that the Popes were about this time be- 
ginning to arrogate that dominion over the secular affairs 
of princes, which they had long usurped over their spiritual 
concerns; and the grovelling superstition, which, in after 
ages, bowed the necks of kings beneath the feet of pontifi- 
cal tyranny*, was on the eve of creeping into a gloomy 
existence. In such a state of things, then, our wonder may 
at least be suspended, when we find Hywel yielding so far 
to the popular current, as to court for his new code this 
imaginary accession of authority and importance. 

Accordingly, in the year 930, Hywel, accompanied by 
some of his most eminent ecclesiastics, repaired again to 
Rome, where his laws were recited before the Pope, and 
received his ratifying approbation. Thus apparently ho- 
noured, the Welsh lawgiver returned to his native land, 
and his new code was a second time submitted to a general 
congress of the nation, by whose unanimous assent it was 
finally proclaimed throughout Wales, and continued to be 
observed as the only law of the country until the extinction 
of its independence in the time of Edward the First. Hywel 
also ordered three copies to be written, that one might be 
deposited in each of the royal palaces of the Principality. 

age as it regarded Rome, calls it " the foulest and blackest both in respect 
of the wickedness of princes, and the madness of the people, that is to be 
found in all antiquity." — De Reg. Ital. 1. 6. But even these passages, strong 
as they are, are exceeded by some in the works of Bellarmine and Baronius, 
whose testimony cannot be suspected, since they were, on other occa- 
sions, among the most strenuous advocates of the church of Rome. They 
speak, however, in the most unqualified terms of the dissolute and abomi- 
nable practices of the papal court, and of the Romish clergy generally, 
during the commencement of the tenth century. 

* The reader will not require to be reminded, that this was literally the 
case, or that other indignities, equally humiliating, were practised by the 
Popes towards those sovereigns, who were weak enough to become their 
vassals. 



106 

The great benefits thus conferred by Hywel on his na- 
tive land, as well as the discreet and equitable government 
which he displayed while his dominion was confined to his 
paternal provinces of Dinevwr and Powys, so ingratiated 
him with his countrymen, that, upon the death of his 
cousin Idwal Voel in 940, he was unanimously elected to 
the sovereignty of the remaining province of Aberfraw or 
Gwynedd, whereby he reunited, under one sceptre, the 
whole Principality. And, as the sons of Idwal, many in 
number, were set aside to make room for Hywel on this occa- 
sion, it may fairly be concluded, that the virtues of the latter, 
which entitled him to such a distinction, were of no ordi- 
nary character. They were such, no doubt, as form the 
peculiar ornament of a prince, whose paramount object, in 
the exercise of his high functions, is the welfare and pros- 
perity of his people. 

But the views of Hywel were not exclusively directed to 
the business of legislation. He seems to have also la- 
boured, with particular anxiety, to preserve the tranquillity 
of his country ; and such was the success of his exertions, 
that scarcely once in a space of thirty-five years, during 
which he held a sovereign sway, was the peace of Wales 
disturbed by domestic discords or foreign invasion*. In an 
age and country, so much exposed to those troubles that 
are the natural result of conflicting interests and unsettled 
authority, it is surely no mean praise, that Hywel was 



* This remark has reference, more particularly, to the general condition 
of the country during the reign of Hywel. For private feuds between 
particular chieftains were, as usual, unavoidable ; yet these seem to have 
bad little or no effect on the general repose of the Principality. The 
period of thirty-five years, abovementioned, begins from the death of 
Anarawd, after which event Hywel, either as lord paramount, or as actual 
sovereign, enjoyed the supreme authority over all Wales. 



107 

able so effectually to suspend, though he could not wholly 
subdue, their baneful operation. And the value of his ex- 
ertions in this respect, as well as his personal ascendancy, 
will appear in a still stronger light, when we reflect, that 
his death was immediately followed by a renewal of all 
those civil broils and convulsions, by which, before his 
time, Wales had been so unhappily torn. His guardian 
genius no longer presided over her destinies, and the de- 
mon of dissension was once more triumphant. Hywel died 
in the year 948, deeply lamented and deservedly honoured 
by his subjects. He left four sons, all of whom are said to 
have perished in the desolating wars to which their coun- 
try became now a prey. 

On the character of the Welsh Justinian, as Hywel may 
justly be denominated, the foregoing details have made it 
unnecessary to expatiate at any great length. In addition to 
those patriotic qualities, which were more emphatically his 
own, he was of a pious and devout disposition, and did 
much towards promoting the cause of Christianity among 
his subjects. To say, then, that he was the wisest and 
most politic prince that ever governed the Principality, 
may be regarded as but a mean eulogy ; for the intestine 
contentions, by which, as already noticed, the country was 
usually harassed, were but ill calculated to produce any 
rivals to the peculiar virtues of Hywel. And, accordingly, 
we find the history of Wales for several centuries present- 
ing us rather with a train of warlike adventurers, or preda- 
tory chieftains, than with a succession of prudent and en- 
lightened sovereigns, who devoted themselves to the great 
interests of the nation in preference to their own petty in- 
trigues. In this respect, Howell the Good stands in soli- 
tary pre-eminence among the crowd of monarchs, with 
whom he is intermixed ; and his character may be advanta- 



108 

geously compared with that of the most celebrated rulers 
of other countries, who have incorporated their renown 
with the noble institutions, of which they have been the 
founders. 

Of all these, the English Alfred presents us with the 
readiest and most remarkable parallel. Nearly cotempo- 
raries # , both monarchs were actuated by the same zealous 
desire to ensure the happiness and prosperity of their sub- 
jects, and that too by the same method, a wise and liberal 
legislation. Yet, however congenial their motives in this re- 
spect, the circumstances, under which they were displayed, 
were essentially different, and created a wide disparity in 
their actions and reputation. The English sovereign was 
exposed to all the disadvantages of a disturbed reign, 
during which he had to engage in many battles, and to re- 
pel many hostile incursions ; and thus, however disposed 
to tranquillity, he became, almost in spite of himself, a 
warrior and a hero. The Welsh prince, on the other 
hand, had the good fortune to prevent, rather than to re- 
press, any warlike commotions ; and the general tenour of 
his reign was in happy unison with his own pacific designs. 
Alfred was doomed to prosecute his great national work 
through dissension and bloodshed : that of Hywel was 
achieved under the auspicious shade of peace. Nor were 
wars and tumults the only evils which Alfred had to en- 
counter : he had also to contend against the prejudices of 
an ignorant and semi-barbarous peoplef. But Hywel's 

* They were, in strictness of fact, actually coteniporaries, but not in 
their kingly character, with which alone we have here any concern. 
Alfred died in the year 901, six years before Hywel had succeeded to his 
patrimonial possessions. 

f It was a common complaint with Alfred, that there was not a priest 
from the Humber to the Thames, who could understand the Liturgy in his 
mother tongue, or who could translate the easiest piece of Latin. 



109 

subjects, on the contrary, enjoyed a comparative civilization, 
and he was assisted by many individuals of learning in the 
accomplishment of his politic undertaking. If the career of 
the one was, therefore, the more hazardous, and the more 
brilliant, that of the other was decidedly the more fortu- 
nate. But, not only in their virtues did these two sove- 
reigns resemble each other ; their public failings were also 
alike. They were both influenced by a superstitious re- 
verence for the see of Rome, and both blindly courted its 
patronage and protection. In a word, whatever may now 
be thought of the relative merits of Alfred and Hywel, it 
should not be forgotten, that the renown of the former has 
been materially indebted to concomitant accidents. Like 
the " fame of Marcellus," it grew up in a dark and bar- 
barous age*, and owed to the surrounding gloom its 
most prominent lustre. Hywel's reputation, on the other 
hand, has enjoyed none of those advantages that result 
from a strong contrast; and history, who has been so 
lavish of her favours to the great Saxon monarch, has 
scarcely woven one solitary wreath for the lawgiver of 
Wales. Yet, whether we regard the patriotism of Hywel's 
great design, or the success of its execution, we shall find 
ample reason to respect his pretensions to the comparison 
we have ventured to draw with his more favoured rival. 
( It may be proper, in conclusion, to say something of the 
general nature of the laws compiled by Hywel. Several 
MS. copies of them, of respectable antiquity, are still in 
existence ; all of them, however varying in some of their 
details, agreeing in their general substancef. From these 



* Crescit occulto velut arbor aevo 
Fama Marcelli. — Hot, 
t There is a valuable old copy of these laws among the Cotton MSS. in 
the British Museum, and also one in the Welsh school in Gray's Inn Lane : 



110 

it appears, that these ancient ordinances were originally 
divided into three parts: 1. The laws relating to the Royal 
Prerogative ; 2. Those connected with the Civil Jurispru- 
dence ; and S, The Criminal Law. Most of these, as may 
be imagined, contain provisions essentially different from 
any at present in force in this country; but, in some 
instances, and those too of importance, the sources of still 
existing laws and institutions are clearly to be traced. 
More particularly with the English Common Law is this 
affinity to be discovered ; and we have already seen, that 
Alfred, in the formation of that famous code, borrowed 
largely from the old British institutes, which Hywel had 
adopted as the foundation of his. Notwithstanding, there- 
fore, that the laws of Hywel have long ceased to possess 
their ancient authority, we may still be allowed to appreciate 
their value, as records of the manners and customs of a re- 
mote age, and, especially, as disclosing the origin of seve- 
ral modern usages, not otherwise to be explained. But, 
among the Cymry, it may be hoped, their national code 
wiH long retain a character of far deeper interest, in being 
regarded as a proud memorial of the most enlightened and 
virtuous prince, that ever adorned the season of their inde- 
pendence. 

there are likewise others in several libraries in Wales, most, if not all, of 
which, v/ere consulted by Dr. Wotton, when, with the assistance of Mr. 
Moses Williams, he published, in 1730, an edition of these celebrated remains, 
with a Latin translation. A complete English version is still a desideratum* 



Ill 



RHYS AB TEWDWR. 

The feuds and civil commotions, to which Wales became a 
prey after the death of Hywel Dda, continued to convulse 
the country for many subsequent ages ; and, however un- 
propitious this stormy period to the display of the milder 
and more peaceful virtues, it was, by no means, deficient in 
instances of those qualities that give a lustre to the profes- 
sion of arms. Among the individuals, who may be selected 
as exemplifying the justice of this remark, the subject of 
the present memoir holds a distinguished place. It was, 
indeed, late in his life before he had an opportunity of 
evincing the particular bent of his genius ; but, however 
short the duration of his warlike career, it was one of con- 
siderable brilliance. And, in addition to his fame as a 
warrior, he also merits commemoration as the founder of 
one of the five royal tribes of the Principality. 

Rhys ab Tewdwr*, Prince of Deheubarth or South 
Wales, was the fourth in lineal descent from the illustrious 
Hywel, whose life has been already detailed. His father 
Tewdwr, on whom the epithet, Great, was, for some un- 
recorded reason, bestowed, fell a victim, in the year 997, to 
the calamitous wars of the times, leaving his two infant sons, 
Rhys and Rhydderch, at the mercy of the same turbulent 
dissensions. How long Rhys, the elder of these orphans, 
remained in the land of his birth after his father's death, 
we are not informed ; but it is certain, that at an early age, 

* Rhys ab Tewdwr, according to the English orthography, would be 
Rice, the son of Theodore ; but we have thought it most advisable, in 
this as in former instances, to adhere to the original names — a plan which 
will be pursued throughout the work. 



112 

he was forced by the troubles of the period, and particularly 
by the loss of his hereditary dominions, to seek an asylum 
among the Britons of Armorica, with whom the natives of 
Wales have ever claimed a kindred descent. In this state 
of exile he continued, in all probability, between fifty and 
sixty years # ; but, during all this long interval, history has 
left no memorials of his actions or conduct. 

It is not until the year 1077, that, upon the death of Rhys 
ab Owain, who had usurped the sovereignty of South 
Wales, we have any farther notice of the subject of this 
memoir. Upon this event, Rhys ab Tewdwr, who must 
have been now above eighty years of age, returned from 
Brittany, and put in his claim to the vacant throne, as legi- 
timate heir. The manifest justice of his pretensions, aided 
by his own reputation for wisdom and integrity, prevented 
any open opposition, and, accordingly, with the general con- 
sent of his countrymen, he was fully invested with the 
power enjoyed by his ancestors. But, however favourable 
his own subjects may have been to this restoration of his 
patrimonial rights, the event was by no means so well re- 
ceived by Trahaiarn ab Caradog, who, at that time, ille- 
gally occupied the throne of North Wales. Trahaiarn, 
who had mainly contributed to the dethronement of Rhys 
ab Owain, had hoped, on that event, to succeed to his pos- 
sessions ; and the mortification, occasioned by this disap- 
pointment of his ambitious views, had the effect of ex- 
citing his resentment in a particular manner against the son 
of Tewdwr. 

* Supposing him to have been about twenty years of age when he went 
to Brittany, he must have been absent above fifty years ; for, according to 
Caradog, he did not return until after the death of Rhys ab Owain, which 
took place eighty years after that of his father, at which period, we pre- 
sume, the subject of this memoir was a mere infant. 



113 

It was by usurpation, as just intimated, that Trahaiarn 
exercised the sovereign authority in North Wales or Gwyn- 
edd, which, of right, belonged to Gruffydd ab Cynan, 
the lineal descendant of Anarawd, on whom that portion 
of Wales had been bestowed by Roderic the Great. 
Gruffydd had made several efforts to establish himself in 
his hereditary dominions, but was, in all of them, foiled by 
the superior power of his rival. The establishment of 
Rhys ab Tewdwr, however, on the throne of his fathers 
seemed to present to Gruffydd a more favourable opportu- 
nity, than any that had yet occurred, for the assertion of 
his own claims; and, accordingly, having raised a consi- 
derable force, composed chiefly of Irish adventurers, he 
marched into South Wales to solicit the alliance of Rhys. 
This, from the nature of the object in view, was obtained 
without difficulty ; and the two chieftains made immediate 
preparations for giving battle to the usurper. 

Trahaiarn, on the other hand, who was not ignorant 
of these proceedings, spared no exertions to repel the 
approaching storm, and, having engaged the aid of his 
cousins, Caradog and Meilyr*, two of the most power- 
ful feudal chiefs of that period, he hastened to accept 
the challenge thrown out by his adversaries, rejoicing, no 
doubt, in the opportunity, that seemed to present itself, 
for repairing the loss his hopes had sustained in the suc- 
cession of Rhys. Both armies met on the mountains of 
Carno, near the boundaries of the two divisions of the 
Principality, and, after one of the most obstinate and san- 
guinary conflicts recorded in the Welsh annals, victory de- 
clared itself for Gruffydd and Rhys, Trahaiarn, with his 

* Most probably the sons of Rhiwallon ab Cynvyn, who, "with his brother 
Bleddyn, held the chief power in North Wales from about 1062 to 1068, 
whew he fell in battle. 



114 

two kinsmen, and the gs eater part of his army, having 
been left dead on the field. The result of this bloody con- 
test, which was fought in the year 1079, Mas to secure in 
the legitimate line the sovereignty of those two portions of 
Wales, that had been for several reigns under the sway of 
usurpers. 

But, whatever accession of weight the power of Rhys 
may have derived from the overthrow of Trahaiarn, it 
seems to have been still of an unstable nature, exposed, as 
it was, to the machinations of the disaffected, who, over- 
awed, perhaps, by the testimonies of popular favour, that 
accompanied the assertion of his hereditary rights, had 
thought it prudent to suppress, for a time, the execution 
of their treasonable designs. But this deceitful calm was 
of no long duration ; for, soon after the battle of Carno, 
lestyn ab Gwrgant, Lord of Glamorgan, whose family^ 
during the exile of Rhys, had, for a period^ aspired to the 
sovereignty of South Wales, now reared the standard of 
revolt in support of his spurious pretensions. lestyn was a 
man of an active and enterprising genius, ambitious in his 
projects, and daringly bold in their execution ; but, with 
these qualities, he united none of those higher virtues, that 
throw a redeeming splendour even around the deeds of 
the traitor. He was of an obstinate, morose, and treacher- 
ous disposition; and, so unpopular had these qualities 
rendered him amongst his countrymen, that, upon the death 
of his father in 1030, he was, by the unanimous voice of 
the people, excluded from the lordship of Glamorgan, to 
which, however, he afterwards succeeded on the demise of 
his uncle Hywel. 

Such was the individual that had thrown down the 
gauntlet of defiance against Rhys, and who, doubtless, 
hoped to excite, by his example, a general insurrection 



115 

against the authority of the venerable chieftain. How- 
ever, Rhys was not to be intimidated by these rebellious 
movements, but, on the contrary, aware of the advantage 
of striking the first blow, he anticipated the designs of 
Iestyn, and, marching at once into his territory, laid waste 
the country, and destroyed three of his principal fortresses*. 
But, Iestyn had soon an opportunity of making reprisals 
upon his opponent ; for, entering his dominions, he in his 
turn, ravaged the lands of Brycheiniog and Ystrad Tywi. 
How long this predatory warfare was carried on we are 
not informed ; but, from the spirit and manners of the age, 
it may reasonably be concluded, that, as long as opportuni- 
ties presented themselves, there was no suspension of these 
reciprocal outrages. Some years, however, were yet to 
elapse before this obstinate rivalry was to yield to the 
course of events, and to prove, in its termination, the fatal 
influence which the traitorous schemes of Iestyn were 
destined to have on the fortunes of Rhys. 

But Iestyn was not the only enemy with whom Rhys had 
to contend. The spirit of disaffection, which had broken 
forth, proved, as usual, of a contagious nature ; and other 
chieftains too soon followed the evil example that had 
been set them. Among these, Cadwgan, Madog, and 
Rhiryd, sons of Bleddyn ab Cynvyn, formerly Prince of 
Powysf, having, in the year 1087, collected a large force of 
the most discontented and desperate characters, made an 



f These vvere the castles of Llanilltyd, Dindryvan, and Dinas Powys. 

f Bleddyn, after the death of his brother Rhiwallon, above noticed, 
reigned alone in North Wales, until the year 1072, when he fell fighting 
against Rhys ab Owain. He was a man of vigorous and comprehensive 
mind, and found an opportunity, even amidst the tumultuous events of the 
times, to confer some signal benefits on the jurisprudence of his country. 
He stands at the head of one of the five royal tribes. 

I 2 



116 

attack on the dominions of Rhys, and compelled him once 
more to abandon his native land. The aged chieftain on 
this occasion fled to Ireland, where, however, he did not 
long remain, but, having raised a numerous body of Irish 
mercenaries, he returned to his territories in South Wales, 
which, during his short absence, the sons of Bleddyn, in 
conjunction with lestyn, had exposed to all the horrors of 
fire and sword. The hour of vengeance, however, was 
now arrived ; and, no sooner was the news of Rhys's re- 
turn, at the head of a powerful army, made known, than his 
ranks were crowded by the accession of such of his former 
adherents, as remained true to his cause. The insurgent 
chiefs, conscious of the dangers of delay, while every hour 
augmented the force of their enemy, hastened forward with 
the hope of precipitating Rhys into a premature engage- 
ment. The prince, however, was too well prepared for 
them : he met their combined forces at a place called 
Llechryd, on the borders of Pembrokeshire, where the re- 
bels experienced a disgraceful defeat. Madog and Rhiryd 
fell in the combat, and the other leaders owed their safety 
to flight. After this signal triumph, Rhys dismissed his 
Irish auxiliaries with a liberal acknowledgment of the im- 
portant services they had rendered him, and once more 
resumed the sovereignty of his dominions. 

If the venerable age and acknowledged virtues of Rhys, 
united with his paternal solicitude for the tranquillity of his 
dominions, could have averted the evils of war, the task 
would have been effected without difficulty. But the flood- 
gates of dissension, having been once opened, were not, in 
those times, to be easily closed. Even the admitted good 
qualities and approved valour of the prince were insuffi- 
cient to awe into subjection the turbulent spirit, by which 
the country had been so long harassed. Scarcely had the 



117 

insurrection of the sons of Bleddyn ab Cynvyn been so sig- 
nally quelled, before a new storm menaced the unhappy 
fortunes of Rhys. About the year 1088, Llywelyn and 
Einion, sons of Cedivor ab Collwyn, Lord of Dyved, toge- 
ther with their uncle Einion, brother of Cedivor, took up 
arms, and, having seduced to their cause Gruffydd ab 
Meredydd, a feudal chieftain of distinction in the territory 
of Rhys, marched against the aged prince, who met them at 
a place called Llandudoch. The contest between the two 
armies was long and resolute ; but the cause of justice was, 
in the end, triumphant. The rebels were defeated with great 
slaughter, and among the slain were the two sons of Cedivor. 
Gruffydd ab Meredydd was taken prisoner ; but he sur- 
vived only to meet with a more ignominious, though more 
merited, fate. He was immediately doomed to the death of 
a traitor ; and the event affords a solitary instance, in those 
licentious times, of the laws having thus asserted their awful 
prerogative. The elder Einion, as we learn from Caradog, 
had the good fortune to escape* ; and, fearing to trust 
himself amongst his own kindred, he sought the protection 
of Iestyn ab Gwrgant, who was still in avowed rebellion 
against the prince, by whose talents and courage he had 
been so frequently foiled. 

It may be presumed, that Einion, mortified by his recent 
discomfiture, stimulated Iestyn to new hostilities against 
his old rival, in the hope, by this means, of avenging the 



* The Welsh historians have generally, on this occasion, confounded 
Einion ab Collwyn with his nephew of the same name, the son of Cedivor ; 
but Caradog is explicit in his statement, that the latter, with his brother 
Llywelyn, fell in the battle against Rhys, and that the elder Einion (of 
whom the other Welsh writers take no notice) fled to Iestyn. This is, no 
doubt, the correct representation. 



Ill 

disasters he himself had sustained. For, soon after the fugi- 
tive insurgent had been received by Iestyn, the latter made 
fresh incursions on the territories of Rhys, but was, in no 
instance, able to obtain any decided advantage. His attacks 
were all triumphantly repulsed, and the venerable son of 
Tewdwr seemed still proof against all the malice and power 
of his assailants. 

Appearances, however, were, in this instance, delusive. 
Iestyn, chagrined and impatient at the failure of all his ma- 
chinations, and still incited by the vindictive persuasions of 
Einion, adopted the suggestion of the latter to strengthen 
his resources by an alliance with some Norman adventurers. 
Einion had, in the early part of his life, served in the Eng- 
lish armies both at home and aboad, and had, by this means, 
contracted a particular intimacy with several Norman chiefs, 
who, at the same period, filled the ranks of the Conqueror. 
It accordingly occurred to him, upon the defeat of all his 
traitorous projects against Rhys, that the acquaintance, he 
had thus formed, might tend to his advantage on the pre- 
sent occasion. Under this impression, and having also a 
still more private motive to gratify, he made an offer to 
Iestyn to procure the assistance of his Norman friends, on 
the condition, that the other would give him his daughter 
in marriage. To this Iestyn readily agreed, and farther pro- 
mised to bestow on her a considerable part of his territory 
as a marriage portion*. A formal treaty to this effect was 
signed by both parties, and Einion set out, without loss of 
time, to solicit the expected aid of the Normans. 

The object of Einion's embassy to the English court was 
soon accomplished. Robert Fitzhamon and twelve dther 

* According to Caradog, it was the lordship of Meisgyn, that Iestyn had 
promised to give with his daughter. 



119 

military adventurers* immediately assented to his pro- 
posal, and engaged to enter into the cause of Iestyn. With 
this view they levied a formidable body of troops amongst 
their countrymen, and, with them, accompanied Einion on 
his return to Wales. In the early part of the year 1090, 
this band of Norman auxiliaries landed in Glamorganshire, 
and experienced from Iestyn that cordial reception, to 
which so important an accession of strength may be sup- 
posed to have been entitled. He lost no time in profiting 
by this new alliance, but, uniting his forces with those of 
Fkzhamon, invaded the dominions of Rhys, into which he 
carried the j-avages of war with a merciless and insatiate fe- 
rocity. By his savage example he incited the Normans to 
the most wanton acts of pillage and slaughter, and seemed 
regardless of consequences, so that lie insured the gratifi- 
cation of his own unsparing revenge. 

These barbarous proceedings had not, however, the effect 
of dismaying Rhys, who, with his wonted courage, made 
immediate preparations for giving battle to the invaders. 
Both armies met on the Black Mountain near Brecon, at a 
place called Hirwaen Wrgant, where, after a determined 
and sanguinary struggle, the aged prince of Deheubarth 
was compelled to fly. For a short time he contrived to 
elude the vigilance of his ruthless pursuers, but he was 
eventually overtaken at a spot called Grlyn Rhoddnai. Here, 
while upwards of ninety years of age, he fell beneath the 
swords of his enemies, whose unrelenting revenge was at 
length satiated ; and with him fell the principality of De- 

* The Normans, that accompanied Fitzhamon, were William de Londres, 
Richard Grenville, Robert St. Quintin, Richard Siward, Gilbert Hum- 
phreville, Roger Berclos, Reginald Sully, Peter le Soor, William de Ester- 
ling, John Fleming, Payne Tuberville, and John St. John. 



120 

heubarth as an independent and integral state*. It was 
afterwards divided into a variety of feudal lordships, many 
of which became, ultimately, the property of the very Nor- 
mans, who had thus contributed to the dismemberment of 
the country. 

Rhys had married a daughter of Rhiwallon, brother to 
Bleddyn ab Cynvyn, and by whom he left three sons, 
Goronw, Cynan, and Gruffydd. The first of these was 
slain soon after the battle, that proved fatal to his father ; 
and Cynan, in flying to avoid a similar end, was drowned 
in the lake of Cremlyn, which, from this event, assumed 
the name of the Lake of Cynan. The other son, Gruffydd, 
owed to his infancy his exemption from the cruel destiny 
of his familyf. 

It is a frequent and trite remark, that any extraordinary 
baseness of conduct, however triumphant for a season, 
seldom fails to meet, in the end, with the punishment 
awarded by retributive justice. The fate of lestyn ab 

* The author of the Pentarchia, a Latin poem on the " Five Royal Tribes" 
of Wales, alludes to this battle, and the fate of Rhys, in the following spirited 
lines: — 

" Queis inter aggressis occunit Rhesus in armis, 
Undique concurrunt acies,— pugna aspera surgit, 
Ingruit armorum rabies, — sternuntur utrinque — 
Sternitur Haymonis pubes, sternuntur et Angli, 
Pro focis, Cainbri, dum vos certatis et aris; 
Acriter et pugnans, medio cadit agmine Rhesus, 
Cum quo totus honor eecidit, regnumque Silurum." 
i GmfFydd, according to the usage of those times, was taken for safety 
to Ireland, where he remained until the year 1112, when he was invited by 
his countrymen to assist them against their enemies. Having accordingly 
assumed the sway over a small portion of his paternal dominions, he conti- 
nued, for thirty-four years, to oppose the Normans and others with signal 
bravery and success. He died in the year 1136. 



121 

Gwrgant exemplifies, in a striking manner, the truth of this 
observation. No sooner had his treason towards Rhys re- 
ceived its sanguinary consummation, than he refused to 
fulfil the treaty, into which he had entered with Einion, by 
giving him his daughter in marriage, as the stipulated re- 
ward of the assistance he had been the means of procuring, 
adding gross insults to his refusal. Einion, exasperated by 
this treacherous conduct, resolved upon vengeance, and, 
with this view, had recourse to the same Normans that had 
so recently fought for lestyn, and by whom they had been 
liberally remunerated for their services. To them he dis- 
closed the details of his ill-treatment, of the ingratitude of 
lestyn, and of his want of popularity amongst his country- 
men, urging this latter circumstance as affording a favours- 
able opportunity for dispossessing lestyn of his territory. 
Fitzhamon and his companions, being mere soldiers of for- 
tune, listened, with the utmost complacency, to these re- 
presentations, and made no scruple of assenting to the pro- 
posal of Einion, by cooperating with him against their for- 
mer ally. 

In compliance with this agreement they retraced their 
steps without loss of time, and made a sudden assault on 
lestyn, who, necessarily unprepared for a reverse so unex- 
pected, was compelled to seek, in a precipitate flight, his 
preservation from a more merited doom. His domains 
thus fell into the hands of the Normans, who divided the 
finest portion of them amongst themselves. A mountainous 
and desolate tract was all they reserved for Einion, as the 
appropriate reward of his treason towards the venerable 
prince, to whose fall he had so largely contributed. Thus 
Einion, as well as lestyn, became an example of that even- 
handed justice, which, sooner or later, causes the machi- 
nations of the iniquitous to recoil on their own heads. The 



122 

very mercenaries, who had been engaged to promote the 
dark projects of these two traitors, now beheld one despoiled 
of his patrimony and an exile, and the other confined to a 
barren pittance of that territory, over the whole of which 
he had, no doubt, hoped to exercise a sovereign sway*. 
The events that crowded the short reign of Rhys ab 
Tewdwr, and his advanced age when he assumed the 
sovereignty, must be taken into consideration in our esti- 
mate of his character ; and, under these circumstances, it 
must be admitted, that he presents a remarkable instance 
of that vigour of intellect and steadiness of resolution, 
which support a man in the most trying extremities. He 
was of that peculiar cast of mind, which the Roman poet, 
in one of his happiest effusions, has so well described : — 

Justum et tenacem propositi virnra 
Non civium ardor pravajunentinm, 
Non vultns instantis tyrauni, 
Mente quatit solida\ 

Like some venerable oak, he stood long unmoved amidst 
the war of political elements, ere, in the fulness of years, 
he sunk beneath the growing and overwhelming tempest, 
which treason had excited around him. 



* This lias reference to the prospect he must have entertained upon his 
anticipated marriage with the daughter of Iestyn, in the event of his sur- 
viving that chieftain. 



123 



OWAIN GWYNEDD. 

The chronological arrangement, adopted in this work, has 
made it impossible always to consult that variety in the suc- 
cession of the lives, which may seem desirable. Accord- 
ingly, we have now to present the memoirs of another war- 
rior, who, as far as success confers eminence, must be re- 
garded as one of the most illustrious of the Welsh princes. 
But all greatness is relative, and, in estimating the character 
of Owain Gwynedd, we must not forget the circumstances 
under which it was formed. In this view of him we sharf 
see much to admire, whatever may have been his particular 
imperfections, and which, at last, may be imputable less to 
the individual than to the age. 

Owain Gwynedd first saw the light, most probably, 
during the close of the eleventh century. His father, 
Gruffydd ab Cynan, of whom some mention was made in 
the preceding memoir, was the means, by his defeat of the 
usurper Trahaiarn, of restoring the sovereignty of Gwynedd, 
or North Wales, to the legitimate line, he being sixth in 
lineal descent from Anarawd, to whom that portion of 
Wales had been originally assigned*. Gruffydd enjoyed 
his recovered rights during a period of fifty-five years, 
which were signalized as well by the vicissitudes to which 
he was exposed, as by his patriotic exertions for the welfare 
of his Country. If, in his wars, he was not always victorious, 
he amply compensated for his early failures by the triumphs 
that distinguished the close of his reign, and which, were 
the means of extirpating, for a time at least, the English 

* See page 99, supra. 






124 

and other foreigners that had so long molested the Princi- 
pality. But in the promotion of these successes, we shall 
presently see, the subject of this memoir was mainly instru- 
mental. However, to his father belongs the undivided 
merit of having advanced the cause of religion by the erec- 
tion of several churches, and of having animated the genius 
of his countrymen in a peculiar degree by the patronage 
which he extended to music and poetry. With a view to 
the improvement of these sister arts, he framed several 
laws for the regulation of bards and minstrels, and esta- 
blished rewards for their general encouragement. These 
and similar actions secured to Gruffydd a distinguished 
place in the esteem of his subjects ; and the award of his 
cotemporaries has been confirmed by posterity*. 

From the first memorial, that is preserved concerning 
Owain Gwynedd, it appears that he was inured, from an 
early age, to the warlike avocations so necessary in those 
disturbed times. For we find it recorded, that, in the year 
1121, he was employed by his father, in conjunction with 
his brother Cadwallon, to regain from Meredydd ab 
Bleddyn, Prince of Powys, some lands of which he had un- 
justly dispossessed one of his own nephews. The two young 
chieftains succeeded, without difficulty, in executing the 

* It was in the year 1100 that Gruffydd ab Cynan convoked a general 
congress for the purpose of revising the regulations relating to Welsh music 
and poetry, and, more particularly, for removing some abuses that bad crept 
into the practice of the minstrels. On this occasion he not only summoned 
native professors to attend, but admitted also several foreign musicians, and 
especially from Ireland, where Gruffydd had received his education. And 
thus, by a union of the musical beauties of other countries with those com- 
mon to his own, he formed a new and improved code, consisting of twenty- 
four canons, for the future observance of Welsh minstrels. An old copy of 
these, with curious illustrations, is preserved in the Welsh school in Gray's- 
Inn-Lane. 



125 

commands of their father, who seems ever to have rejoiced 
in an opportunity of avenging the cause of the oppressed. 
Owain and his brother not only recovered the territory in 
question, but took ample reprisals, for this act of violence, 
on the lands of Meredydd. 

This early trait of valour and spirit on the part of Owain 
was followed, we may presume, by many others of a similar 
character. But history has preserved no farther record of 
the young warrior until the year 1135, when he was again 
entrusted with a military command, and dispatched, in 
company with his brother Cadwaladr, on an expedition of 
far greater importance than that already noticed. But, be- 
fore we enter on the details, it may be proper to take a 
brief retrospect of the affairs of South Wales. 

The death of Rhys ab Tewdwr was succeeded, in that 
country, by a miserable state of anarchy and civil dissen- 
sion. The native chiefs were either involved in continual 
struggles among themselves, or had to contend against the 
restless ambition of the Normans, who had been introduced 
by Iestyn ab Gwrgant. The history of the period, for 
more than fifty years, presents us, accordingly, with little 
more than a dismal succession of battle^ spoliation, and 
pillage. And an event happened in the year 1105, which 
tended considerably to enhance this state of disorder. The 
memorable inundation of the Low Countries, which took 
place in that year, drove into banishment a large portion of 
the natives, many of whom repaired to England, to solicit 
from Henry I. a settlement within his dominions. Henry, 
rejoicing in this opportunity of establishing amongst the 
Welsh, from whom he had experienced no small annoy- 
ance, a colony that might prove serviceable to him in his 
designs on the country, allotted to these foreigners, without 
regarding the question of right, a large tract of land on the 



126 

Pembrokeshire coast. The Flemings, by virtue of this ar- 
bitrary grant, and assisted, perhaps, by the Normans and 
English, who inhabited those parts, took possession of their 
new territory, and proved, in process of time, by their con- 
federacy with the other foreign settlers, a source of great 
misery to the original inhabitants. 

Such was the state of South Wales about the year 1 135, 
when the sons of Gruffydd ab Cynan marched into the 
country with the design of expelling the strangers, by whom 
it had been so long harassed. Upon their arrival, at the 
head of a considerable force, in Cardiganshire, they suc- 
ceeded in capturing the castles of several Norman barons, 
and, having being joined by some other Welsh chiefs, they 
spread throughout the country, according to the practice 
of the times, the horrors of plunder and desolation. From 
some unexplained cause, they did not, on this occasion, 
pursue their success to any great extent, but returned to 
North Wales, after having amassed a considerable booty, 
without accomplishing the ultimate object of the expedi- 
tion. It is probable, however, that they had no other de- 
sign, in this retrograde movement, than to augment or re- 
cruit their forces. For in the same year they once more 
invaded South Wales at the head of a well disciplined army 
of six thousand foot and two thousand horse, and, having 
again received the cooperation of the native chieftains, they 
subdued the whole country as far as the town of Cardigan*. 

Whilst Owain and his fellow-warriors were pursuing this 
triumphant career, the English governor of Cardigan had 
taken the alarm, and, uniting under his command as many 



* This towu was then in the hands of the English, and was the residence 
of a governor over this part of the country. But his power must have been 
extremely limited, as well as insecure. 



127 

as he could collect of the English, Normans, and Flemings^ 
both in Wales and the Marches, advanced to give battle to 
the Welsh, on their approach to Cardigan. The men of 
North Wales met the attack with their characteristic bra- 
very, and, after an obstinate and sanguinary encounter, 
completely routed their adversaries, who fled precipitately 
to their fortresses, leaving more than three thousand of 
their number dead on the field. The result of this decisive 
victory was the expulsion of the foreigners from the settle- 
ments they had occupied, and the reinstatement of several 
Welsh proprietors in the lands of which they had been dis- 
possessed. Owain and his brother, having thus, in a great 
measure if not entirely, effected their design, returned to 
North Wales, enriched at once with plunder and glory. 

The death of Gruffydd ab Cynan, in the year following 
this exploit, placed Owain, as his eldest son, on the throne 
of Gwynedd, and thus afforded him a more extensive 
field for the exercise of his talents and courage. Nor 
was he slow in evincing his attachment to the pursuits, in 
which he had already so much excelled. For, scarcely had 
his father ceased to exist, before he, for a third time, in 
conjunction with his brothers, invaded South Wales, where 
the foreign settlers, whom he had so recently discomfited, 
seem to have become again troublesome. Upon this 
occasion, we may presume, he accomplished the purpose 
of his expedition ; for, after having destroyed the castle of 
Caermarthen as well as some other Norman fortresses, he 
returned in triumph to his native land. 

For some years afterwards we have no account of the 
proceedings of Owain, though it is certain that a mind like 
his could not have been, for so long a period, inactive. In 
the year 1142, however, we find him again in arms, but in 
one of those domestic feuds, which are of such frequent 



128 

Occurrence in the history of the Principality. His brother 
Cadwaladr, who was in possession of some territory on the 
borders of South Wales, had the misfortune, in a broil 
with his son-in-law Anarawd, to occasion the death of the 
latter, either by his own violence, or by the agency of some 
of his dependents. The news of this outrage no sooner 
reached Owain, than, suffering the feelings of humanity to 
triumph over those of nature, he resolved to be revenged 
on his brother. Accordingly, accompanied by his son 
Hywel, he entered the territory of Cadwaladr, where, after 
committing many ravages, he burnt the castle of Aberyst- 
with. Cadwaladr, in the mean time, having been apprised 
of Owain's design, and conscious of his inability to contend 
with him, had fled for assistance to Ireland, which appears 
to have been, formerly, the common resort of the Welsh 
refugees. Here Cadwaladr found no difficulty, by promises 
of plunder and other rewards, in raising a band of merce- 
naries, with whom he returned to Wales, and landed at 
Abermenai in Caernarvonshire, at no great distance from 
his brother's residence. For a short time this predatory 
host succeeded in their designs of pillage; but Owain, 
having been apprised of the hostile incursion, made haste 
to prevent its farther extension. But, when the two armies 
had met, the cause of nature seems to have resumed its 
ascendancy, and the brothers were again reconciled. 

The Irish adventurers, disappointed by this arrange- 
ment in their full expectations of plunder, seized the per- 
son of Cadwaladr as a security for their promised remune- 
ration. Cadwaladr, accordingly, and on condition of re- 
ceiving his liberation, gave them two thousand head of 
cattle, and allowed them to retain all the booty that had 
been the fruit of their invasion. No sooner, however, had 
he regained his freedom, than Owain commenced a sudden 



129 

assault on the Irish, of whom he put the greatest part to 
the sword ; and, having also despoiled them of their cattle 
and plunder, he compelled the miserable remnant of these 
freebooters to make a precipitate and disgraceful retreat to 
their native shores. 

About two years after this expulsion of the Irish, Owain 
was visited by a severe domestic affliction in the death of 
his son Rhun, who, according to the testimony of Caradog, 
exhibited an almost perfect union of mental and personal 
accomplishments*. With every allowance, however, for 
the exaggerated praise of the historian, it seems certain 
that he was a youth of a very amiable disposition and of 
high promise ; and it is probable, that his father had built 
on this basis the most sanguine hopes of his future cele- 
brity. For, such was the shock his death occasioned to 
Owain, that he became utterly inconsolable; and, during 
a long period, all artifices proved unavailing to rouse him 



* As the reader may not be displeased to have the description of an ac- 
complished Welshman during the twelfth century, we subjoin a translation 
of Caradog's account, the value of which may be enhanced by stating, that 
the historian was contemporary with the individual whose portrait he 
draws :— " At the close of this year (1144) died Rhun ab Owain, a youth 
the most praiseworthy of the whole race of the Britons, and who had been 
educated with a liberality suitable to his princely birth. In his form and 
appearance he was comely, in his discourse mild. He was affable to every 
one, and circumspect in his bounty. Amongst his family, condescending ; 
dignified amongst strangers; terribly violent towards his enemies; and 
facetious amongst his friends. He was of a tall person; his complexion 
fair ; his hair curly and flaxen ; and his visage long. His eyes were of a 
pale blue, wide and full ; his neck long and thick ; his chest broad ; and his 
body slender. His thighs were stout ; his legs long and tapering, with long 
and narrow feet, and fingers perfectly straight." Such is Caradog's portrait, 
literally, /actus ad unguem; but, be its quaintness what it may, it is im- 
possible not to allow, that it must have had some foundation in the merit 
of the original. 



130 

from the despondency to which he had ahandoned himself. 
Uninterested in surrounding objects or passing events, he 
appeared to live only in the melancholy remembrance of 
his irreparable loss ; and the yearnings of paternal affec- 
tion established, for a season, an undisputed dominion 
within his breast. 

An event, however, at length occurred, to awaken him 
from this state of torpor. The English had, for some 
time, obtained important possessions on the borders, or 
marches, of North Wales, where they had erected several 
fortresses, that proved at once a protection to their own 
kingdom, and a great annoyance to the Welsh. Among 
these, the castle of Mold, or Monthault, in the county of 
Flint, was distinguished by its strength, and, consequently, 
by the means it possessed of molesting the neighbouring 
country. And, notwithstanding the frequent sieges to 
which it had been exposed, it still continued to rear aloft 
its crest of defiance*. In that period of the life of Owain, 
of which we are now speaking, about the year 1145, the 
occupiers of this castle had committed many ravages on the 
Welsh territory, which, at length, so exasperated Owain, 
that he determined, if possible, to avenge himself, by the 



* This castle was, from an early period, in the possession of the Saxons 
and Normans. The first proprietor, of whom we have any particular ac- 
count, is Eustace Omer, who did homage, for it and the adjacent domains, 
to William Rufus, during the close of the eleventh century. It soon after- 
wards came into the possession of Roger de Monte AJto, who was Seneschal 
of Chester, about the year 1130. It was, most probably, he, or his imme- 
diate descendant, that occupied it when it was destroyed by Owain 
Gwynedd. That the castle was rebuilt after this disaster is evident, from 
its capture by Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, in 1201. In 13°27 it was conveyed, 
with the territory adjoining, to Isabella, Queen of Edward II., and it was 
finally vested in the crown, where it continued until the time of Henry IV. 
Since that period, it has become again private property. 



131 

destruction of the fortress. With this intent, and animated 
moreover by the anticipated conquest of so rare a prize, he 
laid siege to it with a large force; but his assaults were, for 
a long time, repulsed with so much spirit, that all hope of 
success seemed at an end. Owain's accustomed perse- 
verance, however, did not forsake him. He stimulated his 
men, by his example, to such an increase of energy and 
exertion, that his object was at last effected. The castle 
was taken and levelled with the ground ; and such part of 
the garrison, as had not fallen in its defence, were made 
prisoners. So elated was the Welsh chieftain, by his tri- 
umph over this powerful and obstinate foe, that, in the 
exultations of his victory, he is said to have forgotten 
the grief that had previously overwhelmed him, and that, 
from this moment, it oppressed him no more. 

After this event, the English, as if to repair the disaster 
they had sustained, seem to have resolved upon the most 
vigorous hostilities against Owain ; but it was not until the 
year 1149, that any extensive enterprise was adopted. In 
that year Randulph, Earl of Chester, between whom and 
Owain there had existed a long and rancorous animosity, 
made formidable preparations for invading North Wales. 
He not only raised a numerous army of English, but pro- 
cured also the alliance of Madog ab Meredydd, Prince of 
Powys*, who, jealous perhaps of Owain's power, and im- 
patient of the feudal services he owed him, rejoiced in this 
proffered opportunity of building his own independence on 
the ruins of that of his rival. With this force Randulph 
marched into Flintshire, but had not advanced many miles 
before he was met by Owain, who had taken his usual 
prudent precautions against a surprise. He had even, on 

* He held the sovereignty of Powys from J 133 to 1159. 
K 2 



132 

this occasion, determined to make the first onset, and, 
accordingly, marched towards the enemy, whom he en- 
countered at no great distance from the town of Flint. The 
English troops, relying on their superiority, both in numbers 
and discipline, had, no doubt, looked forward with con- 
fidence, to the result of the contest. But, however elated 
their prospects, the illusion was of no long continuance ; 
for such was the sudden and impetuous valour, with which 
Owain assailed them, that 

" they, astonished, all resistance lost, 

All courage," 

and sought their security in a disgraceful flight. But so 
resolutely did the Welsh chieftain carry on his victorious 
pursuit, that a few only of the fugitives returned to Chester, 
with the calamitous tidings ; and these owed their safety 
rather to the fleetness of their horses, than to any relaxa- 
tion of vigour on the part of their assailants. 

The effect of this triumph on the English seems to have 
been very decisive, since we do not find, for some years 
afterwards, that they made any farther efforts towards ac- 
complishing their favourite project of subduing North 
Wales. Owain, therefore, as far as foreign hostilities could 
affect him, must have enjoyed a considerable share of re- 
pose. But it was the misfortune of his reign, and in a great 
degree also, perhaps, of the particular character of the 
Welsh of that age, that the suspension of external warfare 
was but a signal for the renewal of domestic dissensions. 
Andy above all, family feuds appear to have been a promi- 
nent characteristic of this troubled period. An instance of 
these we have already seen in the contention between 
Owain and his brother Cadwaladr; and to this several 
others might have been added, from among the predatory 
conflicts that were continually taking place between the 



133 

sons of Owain and their uncles, against whom the former 
were generally successful. 

In one of these unnatural contests, Hywel ab Owain* 
had taken his uncle Cadwaladr prisoner, and, as usual, 
seized his possessions. Cadwaladr, after lingering about 
two years in confinement, contrived, in the year 1151, to 
make his escape, and, by way of some retaliation for the 
injury he had sustained, made an incursion, with several 
followers, into the island of Anglesea, a great portion of 
which he reduced before any effectual opposition could be 
made to his progress. At length, however, Owain, with 
whose connivance, in all probability, if not with his actual 
encouragement, his son had previously acted, despatched a 
considerable force against his brother, and compelled him 
to fly for protection to England, where he had some power- 
ful friends in the connexions of Gilbert, Earl of Clare, 
whose daughter he had married. But this family discord, 
the fertile source of so many crimes, was productive, in the 
same year, of a transaction far more disgraceful to the 
memory of Owain. His brother, Cadwallon, recently de- 
ceased, was succeeded in his rights and property by his 
son Cunedda ; but Owain, having tyrannically resolved to 
appropriate these possessions to his own use, had resort to 
an act of inhumanity, for which it would be difficult to find 
a parallel, except in the annals of oriental barbarism. He, 
in the first place, had the eyes of his nephew taken out, and 
afterwards, by another savage operation, excluded him from 

* Hywel was not only a warrior, but a poet. Eigbt of his productions 
have reached us, and are printed in the Archaiology of Wales. They are 
almost all of an amatory nature, and give abundant proof of the talent as 
well as elegant mind of the writer. Indeed, he is almost the only one of 
the early Welsh bards, that has dedicated the effusions of his muse to the 
celebration of the fair sex. 



134 

all chance of descendants, who might hereafter lay claim to 
his property. It is hardly possible to reconcile this act of 
cruelty with some other traits in the character of Owain ; 
but in an age ; when the moral habits were so unsettled, and 
when a rapacious avarice too often predominated over every 
better feeling, even this action, brutal and indefensible as it 
was, ought not to be a subject of much surprise. 

At length, Owain was roused from these disgraceful dis- 
sensions at home, by the dangers to which his dominions 
were exposed from without. Henry II., who had recently 
ascended the English throne, provoked, we may presume, 
by the unsuccessful issue of the former enterprises against 
North Wales, and resolving, by one great blow, to atone for 
all previous failures, projected the entire subjugation of the 
country, and formed his preparatory measures upon a scale 
corresponding with the hazard of the undertaking. Inde- 
pendently of the motives of personal ambition, that impelled 
him to the prosecution of this design, he was also stimulated 
to it by the urgent solicitations of the exiled Cadwaladr, 
who hoped, by this means, to obtain some redress for the 
injuries he had endured through his brother and nephew. 
And Madog ab Meredydd, who still smarted under the idea 
of his feudal subservience to Owain, united his representa- 
tions with those of Cadwaladr, in favour of the enterprise. 

Henry, accordingly, instigated by these various motives, 
and auguring, no doubt, from the extent of his resources, a 
certainty of success, marched into North Wales, in the year 
1156, and, encamping on Saltney Marsh, in the vicinity of 
Chester, seemed to challenge Owain to the unequal combat. 
The Prince of Gwynedd, on the other hand, was neither 
unprepared for this invasion, nor slow to oppose it : on the 
contrary, he advanced with a powerful force to Basingwerk, 
on the Dee, in order to give battle to the English monarch. 



135 

The latter, on being apprised of this, sent off a part of his 
army, under the command of some of his most experienced 
nobles, to check the presumptuous advances of the Welsh. 
But, the detachment had scarcely been separated from the 
main body, before they were surprised in a wood by 
Davydd and Cynan, two of Owain's sons, who assailed 
them with such effect, as to compel them, after sustaining a 
great loss, to return precipitately to the royal camp. 

The event of this skirmish must have been calculated, 
one would think, to depress Henry's hopes of the success 
of his expedition, in proportion as it exalted his opinion of 
the adversaries with whom he had to engage. However, 
he was not of a character to be intimidated by any unim- 
portant reverse; so, breaking up his camp, he resolved 
upon the adoption of more decided measures. With this 
view, he marched along the coast of the Dee, with the in- 
tention of throwing himself into the rear of Owain's forces, 
and thus intercepting their communication with their sup- 
plies. The cautious Welshman was, however, aware of the 
meditated manoeuvre, and accordingly, retiring to a spot, 
which, to this day, bears the name of Cil Owain, or Owain's 
Retreat, he effectually frustrated the designs of the enemy. 
Henry, upon this, was compelled to fortify himself within 
the Castle of Rhuddlan, on the Flintshire coast, after having 
been exposed, as it would appear, during the march from 
Saltney, to much personal danger. It is related by an 
English historian*, that, while passing through a defile 
near Flint, Henry's standard-bearer, the Earl of Essex, was 
so vigorously beset by the Welsh, that, dropping his ensign, 
he took to flight, exclaiming in his panic, — " The king is 
slain." The alarm flew, with electric rapidity, through the 



* W. Parous, lib. ii. c. 5. 



136 

English ranks, and the Welsh, profiting by the incident, 
pursued the enemy so closely, that it was not without diffi- 
culty, the king actually eluded the fate, which, in the terri- 
fied imagination of his standard-bearer, had been already 
accomplished. Several of his principal officers, however, 
fell in the action, and, among them, some of his most distin- 
guished nobles. Thus, although Henry succeeded in pene- 
trating so far into the country, it was an advantage which 
he acquired without any particular honour. 

The period of Henry's stay at Rhuddlan was not sig- 
nalized by any remarkable event*. Owain, having quitted 
his place of retreat, encamped on an adjacent eminence, 
whence he was enabled frequently to annoy the inva- 
ders. But the war seems to have terminated after some 
unimportant skirmishes, and Henry was, without doubt, 
glad to abandon an enterprise, by which he had gained 
so little either of glory or solid advantage. A treaty was, 
accordingly, concluded between him and Owain, in which 
the only condition exacted from the latter, was that he 
should reinstate his brother Cadwaladr in his former pos- 
sessions. Henry, however, retained and garrisoned the 
fortresses of Rhuddlan and Basingwerk, which seem to 
have constituted all the fruits of this formidable campaign, 
if we except, indeed, the hostages which Henry exacted 

* This expression has reference merely to the transactions between 
Henry and Owain. In other respects, it may be stated, that, during this 
period, Madog ab Meredydd was despatched with the English fleet, to make 
a descent upon Anglesea. He succeeded in his expedition so far as to set 
fire to a few churches, and to commit other ravages ; but the iuvaders were 
ultimately cut off by the inhabitants of the island, who rose in a body 
agaiqst them, and none survived to bear the melancholy news to the fleet, 
Madog, upon learning thi3 catastrophe, returned to Rhuddlan ; but it can- 
not be supposed that he was received by Henry with any particular wel- 
come. His treason to his country, however, deserved no better fate. 



137 

from Owain, for the due performance of the treaty. These 
were his two sons, Rhys and Cadwallon. 

The liberation of the Welsh from the dangers of foreign 
invasion became, as usual, the signal for a renewal of their 
domestic feuds. But it cannot be necessary to follow 
Owain through all the intrigues and broils, in which he 
was thus engaged, during the five years that succeeded the 
departure of the English. About the close of this period, 
however, he undertook an expedition of some consequence 
against Hywel ab Ievav, a chieftain of Powys, who had 
destroyed a castle belonging to Owain. The latter, in- 
censed by this outrage, marched into Hywel's territory, 
where he took ample revenge, by the plunder and devasta- 
tion to which he exposed it. The inhabitants, roused by 
these provocations, united in considerable force, under the 
command of Hywel, who, accordingly, pursued the inva- 
ders to the banks of the Severn ; but Owain's customary 
good fortune did not forsake him. For, while the enemy 
were in the heat of the pursuit, he suddenly made a retro- 
grade movement, and assailed them with such impetuosity, 
that, after the loss of about two hundred men, the remain- 
der of Hywel's force was compelled to seek its safety in a 
precipitate retreat. Owain, having left orders for rebuild- 
ing the castle which had been the cause of this quarrel, 
returned to his dominions, more than usually elated with 
the triumph he had thus obtained over an adversary of no 
very formidable description.- 

While Wales was' thus agitated by intestine divisions, 
Henry, anxious, no doubt, in some way to indemnify him^ 
self for the little success that had attended his former en- 
terprise, conceived again the design of subjugating the 
country. And some predatory incursions, which one of 
O wain's sons had recently made into the English territory, 



138 

on the marches of North Wales, operated as an additional 
incentive to this undertaking*. Accordingly, Henry once 
more marched to Rhuddlan, which was still garrisoned by 
the English ; but, so inadequate were his means, or so for- 
midable the resistance he experienced from Owain, that, 
after remaining there but a few days, he returned with his 
army, in haste, to England, for the purpose of procuring a 
reinforcement. 

Experience had now taught Henry, that the enemy, with 
whom he had to deal, was, by no means, of a contemptible 
character, and that it would require a powerful levy of 
troops to enable him to renew his campaign, with any pro- 
bable chance of a fortunate issue. Influenced by this 
feeling, he availed himself of all his resources, not only in 
England, but also in France and Flanders, to augment his 
forces to such an extent, as seemed to render the accom- 
plishment of his object no longer doubtful. In the year 
1164, then, at the head of a well-appointed and numerous 
army, eager for conquest and thirsting for revenge, the 
English monarch marched, for a third time, against North 
Wales ; and, having reached Oswestry, in Shropshire, on 
the confines of Owain's dominions, he there pitched his 
camp. 

It happened fortunately for the Welsh upon this occa- 
sion, that a sense of impending danger had united them all 
in one common cause. Their private jealousies, their 
family animosities, were, for a while, forgotten in the pa- 
triotic ardour, with which they resolved to defend their 
native soil against its powerful and implacable foe. Ac- 

* The incursion here alluded to was one made by Davydd ab Owain, on 
the borders of Flintshire, in the vicinity of Chester, where he took consi- 
derable booty, both of men and cattle, with which he returned to the Vale 
of Clwyd. 



139 

cordingly, the several rulers, and other chieftains, of the 
three provinces of the Principality, actuated by one ge- 
nerous impulse, combined their forces against the invaders. 
Owain, upon being apprised of the approach of the English, 
repaired, with his brother Cadwaladr, and the whole 
strength of his dominions, to Corwen, in Merionethshire, 
where he was met by Rhys ab Gruffydd and Owain 
Cyveiliog, Princes of South Wales and Powys, as well as 
by several other subordinate chiefs, with all the forces they 
could muster within their respective districts. Thus, it 
may be presumed, the Welsh were in possession of an army, 
formidable at least by its numbers, if not equal in discipline 
and appointments to that of the enemy. However, what 
they may have wanted in these respects seems to have 
been, in a great measure, supplied by the prudence of 
their commanders, who, encamping on the mountainous 
lands in the vicinity of Corwen, resolved to wait the assault 
of the English, rather than risk a battle in a less advanta- 
tageous situation*. 

Henry, on the other hand, as soon as he was aware of 
the formation of this patriotic league within so short a 
distance from his army, determined upon an immediate 
attack. With this view he broke up his camp, having first 
given directions, that the woods should be cleared along 
his projected route, in order to avoid an ambuscade, which 
his former contest with Owain had given him so much 
reason to apprehend. This precaution, however, could not 
secure him from a surprise. His advanced guard was sud- 
denly attacked, in its way through a defile, by a small body 
of the Welsh, though not with any final advantage ; for, 

* The place of Owain'8 encampment, on this occasion, is still to be 
traced, by a tumulus of earth, and other vestiges, to the south of the village 
of Cynwyd, at no great distance from Corwen. 



140 

after much bloodshed on both sides, the pass was forced by 
the English troops, who proceeded, without farther oppo- 
sition, towards the spot where the Welsh army was sta- 
tioned. 

The English had, by this time, become acquainted with 
the particular mode of warfare adopted by their opponents, 
and, accordingly, avoiding the glens and defiles, confined 
themselves to the open grounds*. While in this situation, 
and the two armies in sight of each other, Henry, it is pro- 
bable, unable to dislodge the Welsh from their command- 
ing position, strove to tempt them to a general engage- 
ment ; but the latter, acting with their accustomed caution, 
and profiting by their more intimate knowledge of the 
country, contented themselves by harassing the out-posts 
of the enemy, and by intercepting their supplies, which 
they did so effectually, that the English were reduced to 
the most wretched extremities. And, the weather be- 
coming, at the same instant, particularly unfavourable, 
Henry was driven to the humiliating necessity of abandon- 
ing an enterprise, on which he had entered with so deter- 
mined a spirit, and with such flattering hopes. Thus 
foiled in his most vigorous attack on the independence of 
Wales, he returned home in a state of the deepest morti- 
fication, and, in a barbarous ebullition of revenge, caused 
his Welsh hostages, among whom were the two sons of 
Owain already mentioned, to be immediately deprived of 
their eyes* And this wanton and indefensible act of cruelty 
was the only consolation he could administer to his disap- 
pointed ambitionf. 

* It is thought that the post, selected by Henry, was a part of the Berwyo 
Mountains. 

f This expedition, however, was not the last of Henry's attempts against 
North Wales. For, soon after its failure, he again set out for the purpose 



141 

Thus was Wales once more rescued From the perils of 
foreign hostility, and, had it not been for the evil genius 
that still haunted its domestic repose, the evening of 
Owain's reign might have been one of unclouded serenity. 
But, a year had scarcely elapsed since Henry's ill-omened 
invasion, before the Welsh prince felt himself again under 
the necessity of taking up arms, in order to avenge a private 
outrage committed by Owain Cyveiliog, Prince of Powys, 
who, with another chieftain, had forcibly dispossessed 
Iorwerth Goch of some lands which he held in Powys* 
Owain, as we have before seen, was ever ready to succour 
the oppressed, and, accordingly, uniting his forces with 
those of Rhys ab Gruffydd, he succeeded in expelling 
Owain Cyveiliog from his dominions, and in restoring to 
Iorwerth the property of which he had been despoiled. 
Nor were Owain and Rhys unmindful of their own inte- 
rests, but availed themselves of their triumph, to divide a 
portion of the conquered territory among themselves and 
their dependents. The Prince of Powys, however, having 
soon afterwards procured a formidable reinforcement of 
English and Norman adventurers, repossessed himself of 
his territory, and destroyed one of the castles which Owain 
had seized. Thus terminated the last intestine struggle, 
which appears to have taken place in North Wales, during 
the lifetime of Owain. 

The only other memorable event, that distinguished the 
career of this chieftain, was the capture of Rhuddlan Castle, 
which had remained in the hands of the English ever since 
Henry's first invasion. But, so strong was the garrison, 
and so obstinate the defence that it made, that it was not 



of invading the country; but, after having conveyed his troops, by sea, as far 
as Chester, he suddenly relinquished his design, and disbanded his army. 



142 

until after a siege of three months, that the combined 
forces of Owain and Rhys were able to accomplish their ob- 
ject. To this success they added the reduction of another 
fortress in the vicinity*, which appears to have completed 
their triumph over the English, who were now entirely dis- 
lodged from their conquests in Gwynedd. 

The reign and life of Owain were now drawing near to 
their termination. He survived this last victory but three 
years, and died in the year 1169, leaving his country in 
such a state of tranquillity, as it had rarely before expe- 
rienced, and was not now destined long to enjoy. He had 
exercised the sovereign power over North Wales for thirty- 
two years, during which long period he had scarcely expe- 
rienced a single reverse ; and the fame, which he be- 
queathed to his country, was that of one of its most va- 
lorous and most fortunate princes. His children, including 
such as were illegitimate, as well as those born in wedlock, 
were numerous. The Welsh historians have preserved the 
names of twenty ; and, of these, seventeen are reported to 
have survived their father. The remains of Owain were 
deposited in the episcopal Church of Bangor, in Caernar- 
vonshire*!-. 

* This was the Castle of Prestatyn, at no great distance from that of 
Rhuddlan. The latter fortress is recorded to have been built by Llywelyn 
ab Sitsyllt, who governed Wales from the year 998 to 1021. It soon after- 
wards passed into the hands of the English, from whom, however, it was 
retaken by Griiffydd ab Cynan. Rhuddlan is supposed to have been, an- 
ciently, a place of considerable importance, as it has remains of a hospital 
and an abbey ; and an old gate, at least half a mile from the present town, 
seems to indicate the former extent of the place. 

f Giraldus Cambrensis, who visited Bangor about twenty years after the 
death of Owain Gwynedd, communicates, in his " Itinerary," the following 
information relating to the tomb of the Welsh prince: — " On our return 
to Bangor from Mona, we were shewn the tombs of Prince Owain and his 



143 

In contemplating the life of Owain Gwynedd, it is impos- 
sible not to feel, that he was, at once, one of the most 
politic, valorous, and successful chieftains, that ever bore 
sway in the Principality*. But it cannot, on the other 
hand, be denied, that these high qualities were united with 
others of a far different nature, or that the lustre of his 
general fame was obscured by some dark and disgraceful 
blemishes. While we extol his character as a sovereign, 
we are compelled to condemn his failings as a man. While 
we view, with admiration, the wary policy, the resolute 
courage, and, above all, the liberal spirit of patriotism, with 
which he opposed and defeated the ambitious projects of 
Henry, we are bound to contrast with them the pitiful jea- 
lousies, which involved him in so many domestic feuds, 
and, especially, as the foulest blot on his fame, his brutal 
treatment of his nephew Cunedda. Yet, it should in can- 
dour be admitted, that much of this inconsistency in the 



younger brother Cadwaladr, who were buried in a double vault, before the 
high altar, although Owain, on account of his public incest with his cousin- 
german, had died excommunicated by the blessed martyr St. Thomas, and 
the Bishop of that See has been directed to seize a proper opportunity of 
removing his body from the church." In obedience to this bigoted man- 
date of Becker, as we learn from the Hengwrt MSS., the body was soon 
afterwards removed into the adjoining church-yard; but, in order to escape 
the indignation of the people, the sacrilegious deed was effected by means of 
a subterraneous passage, excavated purposely for the occasion. 

* The author of the Pentarchia sums up Owain's character in the follow- 
ing expressive couplet :■— ' 

" Consilio felix princeps, fortissimus armis, 

Civibns ille novus Solomon, novus hostibus Hector." 

Caradog and Humphrey Llwyd also bear testimony to the same distin- 
guished endowments, which Warrington, iu his History of Wales, likewise 
admits, but with some little qualification. 



144 

conduct of Owain may be ascribed to the restless temper 
and unsettled condition of the times, which, however favour- 
able to the exercise of great national virtues, were, at least, 
as likely to encourage the dominion of the less controllable 
passions. Of both these effects, contradictory as they may 
seem, the life of Owain Gwynedd furnishes a remarkable 
illustration. 

But the military talents and public merits of Owain did 
not constitute his sole praise. He stands distinguished 
among the rulers of Wales, for the patronage which he 
afforded to the votaries of the muse. Although we have 
no direct historical testimony on this point, the number of 
bards that flourished during his time, and the glowing 
strain of panegyric, in which he is celebrated by them, even 
in the pieces still extant, leave no doubt as to the fact*. 
And it may be considered as a corroboration of this as- 
sumption, that one of his own sons, as has been already 
incidentally noticed, shone conspicuous among this gifted 



* The history of Welsh poetry presents two remarkable epochs, the sixth 
and the twelfth centuries. The latter, in particular, merits the title of the 
" Augustan era ;" and there can be little question, that it originally owed 
this distinction to the patronage, which Gruffydd ab Cynan extended to the 
bards, as noticed in the early part of this Memoir, and in which he was, no 
doubt, imitated by his son and successor. Consequently, the reign of the 
latter was peculiarly signalized by the cultivation of the national aiven; and 
the names, and some of the effusions, of several of its most eminent votaries, 
have descended to these times. Among them, Gwalchmai, Cynddelw, 
Davydd Benvras, Llywarch ab Llywelyn, and the two Meilyrs, in addition 
to Hywel, the son of Owain Gwynedd, hold a conspicuous place; and 
several of their compositions, even under all their manifest disadvantages, 
still breathe the glowing spirit of genuine poetry. The limits of a note do 
not suffice for examples ; but the English reader, who may feel any curiosity 
on the subject, will find several metrical versions in the three volumes 
of the Cambro-Briton, recently published. The originals are all to be seen 
in the Afchaiology of Wales, 



145 

fraternity. Whatever, then, may have been the natural 
failings of Owain Gwynedd, to whatever excesses the in- 
fluence of particular circumstances may have seduced him, 
he must still be regarded as one of the most eminent cha- 
racters of Wales, during the season of her independence. 
And, as a fortunate opponent of the warlike designs of the 
English, he has no rival in the history of his country. 



146 



GIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS. 

Among the individuals, who have conferred any distinc- 
tion on the literary annals of Wales, it is impossible, with 
any degree of justice, to overlook the subject of the ensuing 
memoir. Whether we regard him with reference to his 
talents, natural or acquired, or to the zeal, which, in many 
instances, he manifested in the service of his country, his 
claims on our respect cannot be deemed inconsiderable. 
And, had it been his lot to be born in a more enlightened 
age, there is every reason to conclude, that he would have 
bequeathed to posterity a splendid fame. 

Giraldus de Barri, or, according to his common designa- 
tion, Giraldus Cambrensis*, was born in the year 1146, at 
a place called Maenor Pyr, now Manorber Castle, near 
Tenby, in the county of Pembrokef. His father, William 
de Barri, was of Norman extraction ; but, by his mother's 
side, Giraldus was descended from the ancient princes of 



* He is also known by the name of Sylvester ; but this appears to have 
been merely an epithet of ridicule or contempt, bestowed upon him by his 
juvenile associates. 

f The ruins of Maenor Pyr (the Lords' Manor), now corruptly called 
Manorber, are still to be seen on the shore to the west of Tenby. Giraldus, 
ignorant of the true etymology, calls it Pyrrhus's Mansion. It was, in his 
time, he tells us, " adorned with stately towers and bulwarks, having, on 
the west side, a spacious haven, and under the walls, to the north and north- 
west, an excellent fish-pond, remarkable as well for its neatness as the 
depth of its water." This fortress is said to have been founded by Arnulph 
de Montgomery, in the reign of Henry I., and by him consigned to one of 
his followers, Gerald de Windsor, called also Fitzwalter, maternal grand- 
father of the individual whose life we are now considering. Manorber 
Castle is now the property of Lord Miltbrd. 



147 

South Wales, his mother, Angharad, being the grand- 
daughter of Rhys ab Tewdwr, whose life has already been 
recorded in these pages** At an early, and almost infan- 
tine, age, we are told, the subject of the present memoir 
gave such indications of his literary and religious predilec- 
tions, as to induce his father to determine upon educating 
him for the ecclesiastical profession ; and, with a parental 
presentiment of his future celebrity, he was accustomed to 
call him his " little bishop." An incident also occurred 
during this period, which, although trivial in itself, served 
to mark, in the strongest manner, the enthusiastic reverence 
which he entertained for the Christian religion. The ap- 
prehension of a foreign invasion being at that time preva- 
lent in South Wales, young Giraldus, in order to avoid 
the impending storm, fled for refuge to a neighbouring 
church, considering it more secure than any fortress, how- 
ever strong, could possibly be, and thus, to use his own 
words, " with a wonderful foresight for his age, declaring 
the peace and the privileges of the house of God." 

The early proofs, thus given of the particular bent of 
Giraldus's mind, could not fail to attract the notice of his 

* According to the most authentic accounts of the family of Giraldus, his 
grandfather, Gerald de Windsor, mentioned in the last note, married Nest, 
daughter of Rhys ab Tewdwr, and who had been previously, as Mr. Yorke 
says, " the beautiful mistress of Henry I., and brought him his eminent son, 
Robert, Earl of Gloucester.*' It was in order to strengthen his interests and 
power in South Wales, that Gerald formed an alliance with Nest, by whom 
he seems to have had, at least, three sons and one daughter. The eldest 
son, William, enjoyed, as his mother's inheritance, the Castle of Carew, in 
Pembrokeshire, and from his son Odo came the illustrious family of Carew. 
Maurice, and David, Bishop of St. David's, were the other sons. Angharad, 
the daughter, married William de Barri, who was, most probably, descended 
from one of the followers of the Conqueror. Giraldus was his fourth son. 
Bishop Godwin, it. should be mentioned, makes Giraldus the son of 
Maurice, and not of Angharad. 

L 2 



148 

uncle, David Fitzgerald*, at that time Bishop of St^ 
David's, who, accordingly, undertook to provide for his 
education. He was, in consequence, removed to St. Da- 
vid's, where he had the assistance of regular tutors ; but it 
does not appear, that the progress, he at first made in his 
studies, was at all in proportion with his subsequent suc- 
cess. On the contrary, he informs us himself, that he was 
of too negligent and playful a disposition, but that, after 
frequent remonstrances from his uncle and tutors, he ulti- 
mately excelled all his juvenile companions. He seems to 
have pursued this course of education in Wales until his 
twenty-third year; and, as he had, before that period, com- 
posed his " Metrica Cosmographiai*," his attainments must 
have been of a creditable description. He was now, in 
compliance with the custom of the age, sent to Paris, at 
that period the grand centre of European learning and 
science. Here he resided for the greatest part of three 
years, devoting himself to the study of theology, rhetoric, 
and the belles lettres ; and, such was his proficiency in the 
two last-mentioned branches of literature, that, shortly be- 
fore his departure, he made them the subject of a course 
of lectures, which were honoured, as he tells us, with the 
general applause of the University. 

In 1172 Giraldus returned to his native country, and, 
entering into holy orders, soon obtained preferment, being 
appointed a Canon of Hereford, and Rector of Chesterton, 
in the county of Oxford. His partiality, however, for the 
land of his birth, induced him to select it for his place of 
Tesidence, and, while there, he detected several abuses that 



* The third son, as mentioned in the last note, of Gerald de Windsor: he 
held the See of St. David's from 1149 to his death in 1176. 

f This work, he tells us, he wrote in his twentieth year, 1166 : it exists 
only in manuscript. 



149 

prevailed in the diocese of St. David's, respecting the pay- 
ment of tithes and other ecclesiastical dues. Animated by 
the same zeal for the welfare of the church, that ever after- 
wards distinguished him, he lost no time in representing 
these malpractices to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who 
immediately appointed him his legate for the reformation of 
the evil. Armed with this authority, he returned to Wales, 
and proceeded, by excommunication and other penalties, to 
enforce the strict execution of his duty ; and among those, 
who suffered under his impartial severity, were the Con- 
stable of Pembroke Castle* and other persons of note. 
Nor did he confine his zealous interference to the imme- 
diate object of his commission; but, when that was accom- 
plished, he undertook the still more invidious task of re- 
claiming the morals of the clergy, which appear to have 
been, at that period, much more lax than was consistent 
with the sacredness jof their professional character. The 
Archdeacon of Brecon, in particular, is represented to 
have led a life of open incontinence, unabashed by all the 
remonstrances of the legate, who, in consequence, made a 
representation of the case to his uncle, the Bishop of St. 
David's. The archdeacon was, accordingly, deprived of 
his preferment, which the bishop transferred to Giraldus, 
as some return for the benefits the latter had conferred on 
his diocese. 

Giraldus now selected for his residence the small village 
of Llanddew, near Brecon ; but his new dignity appears to 
have entailed upon him a troublesome succession of litigations 
and contests, from each of which, however, according to 

* Pembroke Castle was built in the time of Henry I., by Arnulph de 
Montgomery, before mentioned. It was at the period in question, most 
probably, in the hands of the Flemings, who settled here in the beginning of 
this century. 



150 

his own testimony, he emerged with fresh triumph and 
honour. The obnoxious office, he had so recently under- 
taken, and which he had so resolutely discharged, was, in 
all probability, the chief cause of the disquietude he now 
experienced. Yet one, at least, of his altercations, of 
which the particulars are preserved, must have had a dif- 
ferent origin. The Bishop of St. Asaph, it seems, laid 
claim to the privilege of dedicating the Church of Ceri, 
on the confines of Montgomeryshire; and Giraldus, on 
the other hand, contended for this right on the part of 
the Bishop of St. David's. After a long altercation, both 
parties, actuated by a similar zeal, met in the churchyard 
of Ceri, for the purpose of asserting their claims; and, 
for some time, the volleys of excommunications, that were 
reciprocally discharged, held the contest in doubt. At 
length Giraldus, being in possession of the church, resorted 
to the usual extremity in such cases, and consummated his 
spiritual fulminations by three peals of the bells. The 
bishop and his party, terror-struck by the appalling sound, 
no longer dared to prolong the conflict, but fled in dismay, 
leaving Giraldus in triumphant possession of the field. 
This ludicrous incident, being soon afterwards reported to 
Henry II., was the source of no little merriment to him and 
his courtiers, at the expense of the ecclesiastical com- 
batants ; but it seems the Bishop of St. Asaph, who had 
been a fellow-student with Giraldus at Paris, so far from 
resenting his defeat, joined the whole country in com- 
mending the zealous spirit his adversary had evinced on the 
occasion^. 



* The Bishop of St. Asaph, here mentioned, was Adam, the eighth pos- 
sessor of that see, which he enjoyed from 1175 to 1181, when he died. He 
was by birth a Welshman, and was a Canon of the University of Paris. 
Wharton, in his " Anglia Sacra," gives a long and amusing detail of the con- 



151 

Not long after this whimsical triumph on the part of 
Giraldus, he was unanimously elected, by the Chapter of 
St. David's, to preside over that see, which had first be- 
come vacant by the death of his uncle. Giraldus, however, 
regarding the honour as premature, thought it most pru- 
dent to decline it ; but the Chapter, still persisting in their 
nomination, the case was referred, by the command of 
Henry, to the Archbishop of Canterbury and his suffra- 
gans, who declared in favour of the election. The king, 
however, refused to confirm it, alleging, as his reason, be- 
fore a distinguished assembly of prelates, that the acknow- 
ledged integrity and talents of Giraldus, united with his 
noble birth, might have an injurious influence on the newly 
acquired supremacy of England, in the ecclesiastical affairs 
of South Wales. When this was repeated to Giraldus, he 
observed, that " such a public testimony, and before such 
an audience, was more honourable to him than the best 
bishopric." 

It is probable, that this disinterestedness of Giraldus, 
both in his original rejection of the episcopal dignity, and 
his subsequent expression of satisfaction at the king's deci- 
sion, was more affected than real ; for, immediately after 
these occurrences, which happened in the year 1176, he 
went a second time to Paris, apparently to divert his 
chagrin, but for the avowed purpose of renewing his stu- 
dies in theological and polite learning, or, in his own 
words, of " erecting the walls of the canon law on the 
basis of literature and the arts." And, if his Own evidence 
may be received, such was the reputation he had acquired 
by the eminence and variety of his attainments, and, above 



troversy that took place between him and Giraldus, respecting the Church 
•f Ceri. It happened in the year 1176. 



152 

all, by his eloquence*, that, after a residence in the French 
capital of three years, he was offered the Professorship of 
Canon Law in that University. This honour, however, he 
also declined, in the hope, most probably, of something 
more substantial in his own country, which, after remaining 
some time longer in Paris, he again visited. 

His return home was signalized by an act of benevolence, 
which it may be worth while to record. On his arrival in 
London, and while on a visit to the Archbishop of Canter- 
bury, he received information that his sister and her hus- 
band, who had resided in Winchester, were, owing to some 
family disagreement, on the eve of being divorced. With- 
out loss of time, he repaired to the Bishop of Winchester's 
court, which was then sitting in Southwark, and arrived 
just as the divorce was on the point of being decreed. His 
sudden and unexpected appearance, however, gave a new 
direction to the proceedings. The bishop, to whom he 
was known, suspended his decision; and the discordant 
couple agreed, at the urgent entreaty of Giraldus, to an 
immediate reconciliation, and had reason afterwards to 
rejoice in his charitable intercession. 

After remaining a short time in London, Giraldus pur- 
sued his journey to Wales, where, upon his arrival, he 
found the diocese of St. David's in the greatest confusion, 
owing to the recent tumultuary expulsion of the bishop, 
Peter de Leiaf ; but, being entrusted by him with the tern- 



* Giraldus, in noticing the effect of his oratory upon the learned Pari-' 
sians, uses the following modest and becoming expression, which, that none 
of its merit may be lost, shall be quoted in its original garb : — " Tant& 
nempe verborum dulcedine ducti fuerunt et deliniti, ut dicentis ab ore 
tanquam penduli et suspensi, longo licet eloquio et prolixo," &c. 

+ Peter de Leia was a Monk of the order of Clugny, and a Prior of the 
Monastery of Wenlock, in Shropshire. 



153 

porary administration of the see, he succeeded in restoring 
it to some order. He continued to reside in Wales, exer- 
cising his function of administrator, for three or four 
years; but, at length, he left in disgust, in consequence 
of the bishop's interference with the affairs of the diocese, 
by excommunicating or suspending several of the clergy. 
But Giraldus's appeal to the Archbishop of Canterbury, 
-and eventually to the pope, procured the abrogation of 
these arbitrary proceedings ; and the consequent disputes 
between him and the bishop were ultimately decided in his 
favour. Yet, notwithstanding this, he resolved once more 
to quit Wales ; and it seems to have been his peculiar des- 
tiny, not to be long fixed to any particular spot. Accord- 
ingly, in 1184, we find him at the English court, whither 
he had been invited by the king, who appointed him his 
chaplain, and also availed himself of his assistance in the 
government of his conquests in Wales*, praising, in lavish 
terms, his " good conduct, modesty, and fidelity." 

It is evident, that Giraldus was, at this time, in parti- 
cular favour with Henry ; for, independent of the marks of 
esteem already received, he was, in the year following his 
arrival at court, commissioned by the king to accompany 
his son John to Ireland, as his secretary and confidential 
adviser. The office he thus filled must have insured many 
advantages to one willing to profit by it; but the only use, 
Giraldus seems to have made of his residence in Ireland, 
was to collect materials for his two works on the history 
and topography of that country. For, upon the Bishoprics 

* The actual possessions of the English in Wales at this period were, it 
is probable, confined to the maritime parts of South Wales, and the terri- 
tory in the vicinity of the Marches. In North Wales, at least, they had as 
yet made no permanent conquest. 



154 

of Ferns and Leighlin and the Archbishopric of Cashel 
being successively offered to him, he, on each occasion, re* 
jected the high dignity, alleging, as his excuse, his inability 
to produce any amendment in the corrupt and disordered 
state of the Irish church, and, consequently, that he pre- 
ferred the tranquillity of a private station, to the cares of a 
public one, however elevated, in which his services could 
not correspond with his inclination. But this did not pre- 
vent him from profiting by what opportunities he possessed, 
to attempt some reformation in the spiritual concerns of the 
country. With this laudable view, he delivered an oration, 
in the Lent of 1186, before a synod convened by the Arch- 
bishop of Dublin, in which he inveighed, in bold language, 
against the immoral and dissolute lives of the Irish clergy. 
Whether his zeal was followed by any beneficial result, we 
are not informed, and Giraldus himself had no means of 
experiencing; for, immediately after the succeeding Easter, 
he bade adieu to Ireland, and retired again into Wales. 

Giraldus's time, immediately after his return to Wales, 
appears to have been wholly occupied in compiling his two 
works on Ireland*, for which he had, as already intimated, 
collected materials while in that country. Upon the com- 
pletion of these, he repaired to Oxford, for the purpose of 
reciting them before the University, a ceremony which was 
accompanied by circumstances of considerable pomp and 
ostentation on the part of the author. He so arranged the 
affair, that the recitation lasted during three successive days ; 
and, that his vanity might not want its full measure of gra- 
tification, he resolved, that an occasion so important should 



* These were his Topograp 4 'tio Hibei-nite, and Historia Vaticinalis de%xpug* 
natione Hibemice. 



155 

be signalized by an extraordinary instance of his liberality. 
Accordingly, on the first day of the ceremony, he provided 
a banquet for all the poor of the city ; on the second, for 
all the superior members of the University; and, on the 
third, for all the members of inferior rank, as well as for all 
the military then in the city, and the burgesses of the cor- 
poration. Thus terminated this ostentatious parade ; and 
the terms, in which Giraldus speaks of it, abundantly prove 
the transport it had been the means of imparting. In the 
fulness of his gratified pride, he describes it as unparalleled 
in the history of similar festivals, ancient or modern*. 

Not long after this event, probably in the year 1188, 
the subject of this memoir accompanied Baldwin, Arch- 
bishop of Canterburyt, and Chief Justice Glanville, on 
a tour through Wales, for the purpose of preaching the 
crusade ; and such, from his own report, was the eloquence 
he evinced in the cause, and especially at Cardigan and 
Haverfordwest, that numbers of his countrymen, and 
among them several of the chief nobility, flocked around 
the standard of the cross. He himself also assumed the 
holy badge, but, as it would appear, rather by way of 
example, than with any sincere design of embarking per- 
sonally in the cause ; for he subsequently obtained a dis- 
pensation from the vows tp which his premature enthu- 
siasm had given birth, upon condition that he should afford 
all the assistance in his power to the Welsh crusaders, then 



* His words on the occasion are, — {t Sumptuosa quidera res et nobilis, 
quia renovata sunt quodammodo autentica et antiqua in hoc facto poetarum 
tempora; nee rem similem in Anglia factam vel prsesens aetas vel ulla 
recolit antiquitas." 

f Baldwin was the first Archbishop of Canterbury that visiter Wales. His 
authority was strongly opposed by the natives, who urged, in bold terms, 
the supremacy of their metropolitan Church of St. David'*. 



156 

on the eve of joining the fanatical expedition against the 
infidels*. 

The most interesting result, however, of the journey 
which Giraldus and his brother missionaries made through 
Wales, is to be found in the " Itinerary" he has left us* 
describing the country he traversed. For, whatever may 
be the particular blemishes of that work, it embraces much 
curious information respecting the manners of the Welsh 
during a period, of which we have comparatively but few 
memorials, and must, therefore, be regarded as the most 
interesting of all the literary remains of Giraldus. 

In 1189 Archbishop Baldwin, by way, perhaps, of re- 
quiting Giraldus for the services he had rendered to the 
cause of the crusade in Wales, again recommended him to 
the notice of Henry, as worthy of high ecclesiastical pre- 
ferment. That monarch, however, true to his former prin- 
ciples or prejudices on this point, still persisted in his 
refusal, but offered him a confidential post in the retinue, 
which he was about to take with him to France. Giraldus, 
accordingly, accompanied Henry on this occasion, but, on 
the death of the latter, was soon under the necessity of 
retracing his steps. On his way home he met, at Dieppe, 
with an incident, which, however trivial in itself, was nearly 
exposing him to much inconvenience. On his arrival in 
that town, he was obliged to hire a new servant, to whom 
he entrusted all his baggage, containing his " Itinerary," 
some important letters, and all his ready money, about 
forty marks. Owing to some accident, the servant sud- 
denly disappeared, leaving Giraldus in a state of con- 
siderable distress, and, more particularly, on account of his 

• This happened in the reign of Richard I., when Giraldus was absolved 
from his vows by the Pope's Legate. 



157 

manuscripts ; nor was it until some days afterwards, when 
he had ceased to hope for the recovery of his treasure, that 
it was suddenly restored to him at Abbeville, and he was 
thus enabled to proceed on his journey*. 

Upon his return to England, he seems to have been 
graciously received by the new monarch, Richard I., who, 
when departing for the holy wars, deputed Giraldus to 
act, not only as his legate for the administration of affairs in 
Wales, but, also, as a coadjutor, in the general regency of 
the kingdom, with William de Longchamp, Bishop of Ely. 
In the execution of his trust in Wales, he was particularly 
successful in allaying the ferment, which, in the southern 
divisions of the Principality, had been consequent on the 
death of the late kingf. 

During the period, in which he was thus engaged, he 
received successive offers of the Bishoprics of Bangor and 
Llanddav, but rejected them both, on the pretended ground 
of their interference with his studies, which he professed 
himself to be particularly anxious to prosecute. But the 
true cause of his refusal of these episcopal honours is, 
most probably, to be found in the partiality he ever 
retained for his native diocese of St. David's. For, not- 
withstanding his former coyness on this subject, and the 
resolute opposition made by Henry to his election, it is 

* Giraldus details the particulars of this adventure with considerable mi- 
nuteness j but the reader will, no doubt, be satisfied with the general out- 
line above given. 

t Rhys ab Gruffydd, grandson of Rhys ab Tewdwr, and commonly called 
Lord Rhys, exercised, at that time, the most extensive authority in South 
Wales. The death of Henry II., who had been his chief friend and supporter, 
involved him in several contests with the neighbouring chieftains, as well as 
with his son Maelgwn; all of whom, it may be presumed, hoped to profit by 
this change of circumstances. 



158 

likely, that he still entertained hopes of securing his fa- 
vourite object; and he may, consequently, have been appre- 
hensive, that his acceptance of any other see would inter- 
fere with these views. Under these circumstances, and 
with these feelings, he resolved, in 1192, to pay another 
visit to France, but hearing, on his way thither, of the war 
that had recently broken out between the two kingdoms, 
he suddenly altered his plan and retired to Lincoln, for the 
avowed purpose of studying theology under the chancellor 
of that diocese, William de Monte, with whom he had 
contracted an early intimacy at the French University. 

Giraldus remained at Lincoln during six or seven years, 
pursuing, apparently with avidity, his theological studies, 
and devoting also much of his time to his other literary 
occupations. During this interval he wrote his " Life of 
Geoffrey Archbishop of York," and his " Gemma Eccle- 
siastica," as well, perhaps, as some of his other works. 
And it deserves to be remembered to his credit, that, 
during his residence in this city, he had an opportunity of 
performing an exemplary act of charity, by disposing of his 
best garments, in a period of severe scarcity, fox the pur- 
pose of relieving the distressed poor. 

In the year 1198 his studious pursuits at Lincoln were, 
in some degree, interrupted by the death of Peter de Leia, 
Bishop of St. David's ; upon which occasion, he was nomi- 
nated by the Chapter of the diocese, with two others, to 
supply the vacancy. However, upon being strongly urged 
by his friends to canvass for the dignity, he, with the same 
capricious disposition, or the same affectation of disin- 
terestedness, that appears to have marked his conduct 
whenever this prize was thrown in his way, once more 
expressed his reluctance to accept the proffered boon, 



159 

alleging, with a prudish delicacy, " that a bishop ought to 
be sought, and not himself seek # ." In the next year, how- 
ever, he was unanimously elected to the high station, which 
had been so long the secret object of his ambition; but, Hu- 
bert, Archbishop of Canterbury, rejecting his claim, it was 
referred to the king, at that time in Normandy, who gave 
orders that foiir members of the Chapter of St. David's 
should appear before him, but died before they could 
arrive. 

Upon the death of Richard, the Chapter of St. David's, 
still true to their original choice, transmitted a strong re- 
commendation to his successor, in behalf of Giraldus. The 
letters, conveying this, reached John in Normandy, and 
were honoured by a reception, which seemed to promise a 
favourable result ; and directions were even given for sum- 
moning Giraldus into the royal presence. But appearances 
were again fallacious ; for, upon the new king's arrival in 
England, the hostility of Hubert was once more triumphant, 
and Giraldus was again destined to lose the prize, while al- 
ready, as it were, within his grasp. Having thus suffered 
so many and such mortifying disappointments, he appears, 
at length, if his own words might be credited, to have 
formed a serious resolution to exchange the cares and vexa- 
tions of a public life, and the treacheries of a court, for the 
ease and solace of a studious retirement^. But resolutions 
of this nature are more easily formed than sustained ; for 
he, that has been long accustomed to the high road of am- 
bition, will not suddenly court the tame haunts of privacy 
and neglect. Some preparatory ordeal is necessary to wean 

* " Virum episcopalem peti, non petere, debere." 

t His words are—" Nimium temporis, unde raihi plus dolendnm est, am- 
bitioni hactenns et perditioni dedi. Igitur latitare mihi, et libris ac Uteris, 
qnod residuum est dienirh, absque molestia liceat indulges." 



160 

the mind from its former affections : without this, the vows, 
extorted from mortified pride or awakened resentment, are 
rarely productive of their promised fruit. 

Such, at least, were the present vows of Giraldus. For, 
upon retiring to his native country, for the purpose, it may 
be supposed, of giving effect to his resolution, he was re- 
ceived, by all ranks, with an enthusiastic welcome ; and, a 
convocation being immediately held at St. David's, he was, 
for a third time, unanimously chosen to fill the vacant see. 
All thoughts of an ascetic retirement seem, upon this, to 
have vanished, and to have been succeeded by a more steady 
determination to pursue the darling object of his secret 
hopes, than any by which he had been hitherto influenced. 
Without much persuasion, he yielded to the entreaties of 
his countrymen, and undertook to repair to Rome, for the 
purpose, not only of pleading his own cause before the 
Pope, but also of vindicating the privileges of the metropo- 
litan Church of St. David's, against the ambitious preten- 
sions of Hubert, who alleged its subordination to the supe- 
rior jurisdiction of Canterbury. 

Prior to his departure for Rome, Giraldus made a visit 
to Ireland, for the purpose, it would appear, of engaging 
the countenance of his friends in that country, towards the 
claims he was about to institute in the papal court. After 
a short stay there, he returned to Wales, and found, that a 
mandate had arrived, during his absence, from the archbi- 
shop and the justiciary, to elect Geoffrey de Henlawe, 
Prior of Lanthony, to the see of St. David's. Against this, 
the chapter remonstrated in the most spirited terms, for- 
bidding the interference, either of the archbishop or of 
Geoffrey, in the affairs of the diocese, so that the matter 
was now at issue, and all seemed to depend on the impor- 
tant struggle, in which Giraldus was about to engage. 



161 

The champion of the Menevian church, — for in this light 
Giraldus may now be considered, — made immediate prepa- 
rations for his journey. After a hasty visit to his brother 
Philip, whom he describes as a man of probity and discre- 
tion, and also to the Monastery of Stradflur*, for the pur- 
pose of depositing his books there during his absence, he 
proceeded, with all possible expedition, to Flanders, whence 
he hastened to Rome, where he arrived on St. Andrew's 
day, in the same year. He experienced from Innocent III., 
then Pope, an apparently cordial welcome, and, having pre- 
sented him with a copy of his works-]-, received, in return, 
the flattering compliments of the pontiff, a species of ho- 
mage to which Giraldus was never indifferent. But, what- 
ever empty honours may thus have been lavished upon him, 
he was not doomed to enjoy the more substantial fruits of 
his mission. The Archbishop of Canterbury and his party 
had taken care, by their intrigues, to pre-engage the favour 
of the Pope ; and, in so venal a court as that of Rome J, it 
was no difficult task for power and wealth to triumph over 
the unaided exertions of an individual, who had only the 

* This was a monastery of white monks in Cardiganshire, founded by 
Rhys ab Gruffydd in 1164. It appears, from one of the works of Giraldus, 
that he was defrauded of the library, he had deposited there, by the monks, 
of whose perfidy he complains in the bitterest terms. 

f The expression used by Giraldus, in making this present to the Pope, 
affords a curious specimen of the conceits in which he was wont to indulge. 
*' Prassentarent vobis alii libras," he says, «' sed nos libros." Others have 
given you pounds, while I give you books. But all the wit evaporates in a 
translation. 

$ The indignant reproach, applied by Juvenal to the " eternal city 1 ' in 
his day, when he exclaimed— 

~" Omnia Romae 

Gum pretio," 

appears not to have lost any of its propriety in the times of which we are 
speaking. 

M 



162 

justice of his cause to plead in his behalf. However, in the 
month of May, 1200, about eight months after Giraldus's 
arrival at Rome, he was appointed administrator of the 
diocese of St. David's, during the continuance of the litiga- 
tion, as if it were meant, by this temporary honour, to in- 
demnify him for his ultimate disappointment. 

It would be as tedious, as it is unnecessary, to follow Gi- 
raldus through ail the minute details, which he has himself 
given of the proceedings in this protracted affair*. Suffice 
it to say, that, after four long years consumed in the sup- 
port of conflicting claims, and during which Giraldus made 
three journeys to Rome, the papal decision, thus long re- 
tarded, in order, most probably, to give it a colour of im- 
partiality, was, at length, pronounced against him ; and his 
election by the Chapter of St. David's was declared void. 
But the question respecting the metropolitan rights of the 
see remained still undetermined ; and Giraldus, when he 
could no longer be actuated by any selfish motive, solicited 
permission to advocate the cause of his diocese, in his cha- 
racter of Archdeacon of Brecon. The request appears to 
have been regarded as a proof of his disinterestedness, 
and especially by one of the Italian bishops present, who 
pronounced a public eulogy on the occasionf . But in this 
object Giraldus was also defeated ; and the long pending 
litigation eventually terminated against the Chapter of St. 
David's, on both points in dispute. 

A new election to the episcopal dignity, which had now 

* See his work entitled ** De Gestis Giraldi." 

t The prelate here alluded to was Octavian, Bishop of Ostia, a man of a 
noble family, and of high character. The words, he used on the occasion, 
were as follows: — "Nunc, revera, evidenter apparet, quod magis appetiit 
et appetit iste ecciesise suae profectum quani persona?, et quod magis hunc 
caritas Iahorare quam cupiditas fecit." 



163 

been unoccupied five years, was ordered by the Pope ; and 
Giraldus, accordingly, as temporary administrator of the 
affairs of the see, prepared to return to England for the 
purpose of assisting at the ceremony. In his way through 
France, however, he had the misfortune, owing to the trea- 
cherous artifices of John of Teignmouth, one of the adhe- 
rents of Hubert, to be taken prisoner by the troops of the 
Duke of Burgundy*. But it appears, that he was not long 
detained ; for we find him present at the election, which 
soon afterwards took place at Westminster, before the Jus- 
ticiary and the canons of St. David's. Upon this occasion, 
he effectually opposed three candidates that had been no- 
minated by the archbishop, as being ineligible, on account 
either of their mental incapacity, or their vicesf. Other 
nominations on each side were subsequently made, and the 
contest at length closed in the election of Geoffrey de Hen- 
lawe, the candidate proposed, in 1199, by the Justiciary. 
At the conclusion of the proceedings, Giraldus addressed 

* John of Teignmouth had himself previously fallen into the hands of the 
enemy, and, actuated by a malicious feeling towards Giraldus, who, he 
knew, was following his route, he described his person so accurately, that 
the Duke's soldiers had no difficulty in identifying him. Among other 
marks, John of Teignmouth particularized his lofty stature and thick bushy 
eyebrows, which latter were so remarkable, that the unlucky Giraldus had 
no chance of escaping. Upon learning from the French officer, that this sin- 
gularity had been the cause of his capture, he declared that, could he have 
foreseen his eyebrows would have involved him in such a disaster, he would, 
without hesitation, have cut them off. This jocular sally excited the officer's 
mirth, and had, probably, the happier effect of procuring for Giraldus an 
early release from his captivity. ' 

t These were the Abbot of St. Dogmael, the Abbot of Whitland, and one 
Reginald Foliot. The first was denounced by Giraldus on account of his ig- 
norance, the second, in consequence of his illegitimacy and ambitious tem- 
per, and the last, on account of bis youth and Hcentiousuess. 

M 2 



164 

the assembly, whom he informed, that, in espousing the 
election of Geoffrey, he had been influenced by the desire 
of surrendering his personal feelings to the general wish. 

It may be inferred from this circumstance, as well, indeed, 
as from others, that a material change had recently taken 
place in the sentiments of the principal clergy of St. David's, 
who, during the absence of Giraldus at Rome, appear, at 
length, to have yielded to the artifices of his antagonist, the 
archbishop, who had been actively engaged, both by me- 
naces and bribes, in seducing them to his cause. His prime 
agent in this business was the Abbot of Whitland, of whom 
Giraldus accordingly speaks, in no very respectful terms*. 
Disgusted by this tergiversation on the part of his coun- 
trymen, and mortified, as may well be imagined, by the turn 
which affairs had taken against him, Giraldus, at last, re- 
solved to terminate his connexion with the diocese of St. 
David's, by relinquishing the preferment he held in it. 
With this view, he obtained permission from the archbi- 
shop, with whom he was now reconciled, to resign the 
Archdeaconry of Brecon, and the Prebend of Mathrey, 
in favour of his nephew, Philip de Barri, for whom he had 
always meant to procure the reversion of the archdea- 
conryf . Having thus anticipated his benevolent intention, 
he had the gratification of seeing his nephew in the enjoy- 

* We have here another instance of Giraldus's partiality for the figure Pa- 
ronomasia, which even the sense of his injuries could not suppress ; and it 
induces one almost to suppose he would, at any time, have sacrificed his re- 
sentment to a pun. Speaking of the Abbot of Whitland (Alba Terra), in 
reference to his conduct above mentioned, he says—" Albior exterius quant 
interius, habitu quam actu, nomine quam online." It will not bear a trans- 
lation. 

t Philip de Barri, here mentioned, Was the third son of Giraldus's brother, 
of that name, to whom, when on his death-bed, Giraldus had made the pro- 
mise above noticed, in favour of the son. 



165 

merit of a comfortable provision ; and he was accustomed, 

in allusion to his own disappointments, to address him, in 

the following passage of Virgil : — 

'* Disce, puer, virtuteni ex me, verumque laborem, 
Fortunam ex aliis." 

Though Giraldus was thus, by a papal decree, excluded 
from the episcopal honours for which he had so long 
sighed, several of his countrymen, and, among them, the 
chieftains of South Wales, recognized his right to the dignity, 
and, in consequence, conferred on him the honorary title of 
" Bishop elect." This, it seems, gave great offence to King 
John, who published several mandates, in which Giraldus 
is charged with " acting openly against his majesty's crown 
and dignity." But it does not appear, that he himself ever 
sanctioned the popular designation with which he was ho- 
noured. 

After the resignation of his preferment, the subject of 
this memoir seems to have withdrawn entirely from public 
life, and the last seventeen years of his existence realized 
that dream of studious seclusion, which he had before che- 
rished. He resided, during this period, in his native coun- 
try, devoting his time to the revision of his former works, 
and to the composition of several others, among which 
may be numbered his Topographical Description of Wales, 
and his History of his own Life. In the year 1215, while 
thus enjoying the laborum dulce lenimen, an effort was 
made, in consequence of a recent vacancy in the see of St. 
David's, to tempt him from his retreat, by a new offer of 
the long-coveted prize, and that too, it is said, with the 
royal concurrence. But the proffered boon is reported to 
have been accompanied by some dishonourable conditions, 
to which he could not accede ; though it is, by no means, 



166 

improbable, that the fire of ambition, from the ravages of 
which he had suffered so much, was, by this time, extin- 
guished. Twelve years of lettered ease and undisturbed 
privacy had, no doubt, wrought a wonderful change in his 
disposition ; and even the diocese of St. David's, it may be 
presumed, no longer possessed the attractions which had 
inflamed his former and more ardent desires. But, from 
whatever motives he acted, he withstood the temptation, 
and continued in his retirement until 1220, when, at the age 
of seventy-four, he bade adieu for ever to the cares and dis- 
quietudes of the world, He was buried in the cathedral 
of St. David's. 

The character of Giraldus, if it be examined in all its 
points, presents, whether in a moral or literary view, some 
remarkable contrasts. That he possessed many excellent 
qualities is not to be denied: among these, his fearless 
and unwearied zeal for the welfare of the church, his deter- 
mined hostility against its more dissolute members*, and his 
charitable and benevolent disposition, evinced on so many 
occasions, hold a conspicuous place. Nor ought we to 
omit the notice of his disinterestedness, which was remark-* 
ably illustrated in the harassing fatigue he underwent, on 
various occasions, in the cause of his native diocese, and 
more especially in his zealous defence of it at Rome, after 
the total failure of his own suit. To these may be added 
the lighter virtues of modesty, gentleness, and affability, by 
which his manners are said to have been distinguished, and 



* It was against the monks more particularly, in consequence of their no* 
torious profligacy, that his enmity was excited ; and so much was this the 
case, or so great was the odium that he had incurred, in consequence, from 
the holy fraternity, that he was accustomed to add to his litany—" From the 
malice of the monks, good Lord, deliver us." 



167 

which, uniting with his noble lineage, his mental endow- 
ments, and his personal accomplishments*, obtained for 
him, we may reasonably infer, the private esteem of Henry 
II., notwithstanding the political considerationsf that in- 
terfered with his public advancement. 

In the number of his failings are to be reckoned some, 
which may almost seem to have been incompatible with his 
good qualities : such, in particular, were his ambition, his 
vanity, his credulity, and his occasional caprice* His am- 
bition, however, appears to have been of a single and iso- 
lated nature, limited to one favourite object, which render- 
ed all others indifferent to him, as was sufficiently shewn in 
his rejection of the Paris professorship, of the Irish bish- 
oprics, and of those of Llandav and Bangor. And, if it 
be true that he refused the diocese of St. David's itself, 
when last offered, on account of the objectionable condi- 
tions annexed to the gift, it is a proof that his ambition, 
even in this confined view of it, was not to be gratified at 
the expense of his honour. But his vanity admits of no 
palliation : not only does his ostentatious parade at Oxford 
supply an incontestable proof of it, but his works abound in 
the most fulsome allusions to his own merits, both intellec- 
tual and personal^, so that it becomes difficult to imagine 

* He is described by Pits, an old writer, as being " statiua procerus, 
forma venustus, moribus benignus, alloquio dulcis et affabilis, mitis, modes- 
tus, in omnibus temperans et moderatus." And, with respect to his per- 
vsoual attractions, we have his own evidence, that he was, when young, " tall, 
and as remarkable for beauty of face, as for elegance of figure." 

f These, as already noticed, were founded in his descent from the Princes 
of South Wales, which, at that period, rendered him a natural object of jea- 
lousy to the English government. They operated not only with Henry, but 
with his successors. 

$ An instance of this has been seen in the last note but one ; and a similar 
one occurs in another place, where he describes his visit to the Bishop of 



168 

how such a disposition could have consorted with the al- 
leged modesty of his deportment. His credulous turn of 
mind is also abundantly evinced from his writings, as, for 
instance, in his History of the Conquest of Ireland, into 
which he has incorporated the wild predictions ascribed to 
the two Merlins, and, accordingly, dignified his work with 
the title of " Vaticinalis Historia," or the Prophetic His- 
tory. His Itinerary through Wales, and his several Lives of 
the Saints, also afford abundant proof of the same imbecility. 
As for his capricious irresolution, so inconsistent with the 
uniform tenour of his particular views of preferment, it is 
sufficiently apparent in his repeated rejection of the diocese 
of St. David's, when, in 1176 and 1198, it was twice thrown 
in his way, and especially in the prudery of his conduct on 
the latter occasion. 

In a word, the moral character of Giraldus seems to have 
been a mixture of contrarieties, in which, however, it is im- 
possible not to admit, that the favourable qualities greatly 
predominated over those of a different description. The 
former were obviously the result of inclination and prin- 
ciple ; the latter were, most probably, the creatures of acci- 
dent, and were fostered by those circumstances of the times, 
over which he had no immediate control. The good, 
therefore, was, as it were, innate and lasting; and what had 
a contrary appearance may have been as transient as it was 
superficial. 

But the literary reputation of Giraldus Cambrensis is 
what more immediately concerns our present purpose ; and, 
in our appreciation of this, we must not lose sight of the 
age in which he wrote. It was one peculiarly distinguished 

Worcester, when, he says, one of the company, sitting opposite him at table, 
was so captivated with his beauty, that lie exclaimed, " Do you think it 
possible so handsome a youth can ever die?" 



169 

by a pedantic affectation of learning, and a tasteless and 
obscure style of writing ; and, if we candidly examine the 
literary merits of Giraldus by this standard, we shall find, 
that, although he was not superior to the faults of his age, 
he was not tamely subservient to them. The most promi- 
nent blemishes of his writings are what were also the weak- 
nesses of his mind, vanity and superstition : there are few 
parts of his voluminous works, that do not partake, more 
or less, of these characteristics. Yet, in his details of the 
marvellous, he occasionally qualifies what he describes, by 
assuring us of his own incredulity*. In general, however, 
it may be assumed, that what he has related of this nature 
he himself credited. Of his vanity the instances are fre- 
quent and repulsive; yet, however inexcusable on this score 
as a man, some indulgence may be allowed him as an author. 
He was always, perhaps, sufficiently conscious of his own 
importance in this character ; and the homage, he was in 
the habit of receiving from others, had no tendency to di- 
minish his self-esteem. His imperfections as a writer, there- 
fore,^ — and, if judged by our present advanced state of civili- 
zation and knowledge, they are undoubtedly numerous, — 
will be ascribed, by candour, more to the age than to the 
man, more to a crudity of taste, than to a deficiency of ta- 
lent or genius. 

The more pleasing task remains, to take a brief survey 
of his literary excellence; and here again the estimate will 
be, necessarily, comparative. With a view, then, to the 
times in which Giraldus lived, it must be allowed, that his 
knowledge was comprehensive and varied, and that his eru- 

* Thus, upon one occasion, he observes — " I know that I have written 
some things, which will appear to the reader absurd and even impossible ; 
nor am I desirous that a hasty credit should be given to all I have asserted, 
nor do I believe it myself." 



170 

dition extended to some of the most eminent authors in all 
branches of literature. His classical quotations, particu- 
larly from the historians and poets, are numerous, and fre- 
quently apposite ; and he gives many proofs of his pro- 
ficiency in theological lore. In the diversity of subjects, 
which employed his pen, he has been seldom equalled ; and, 
when the disadvantages under which a writer laboured, be- 
fore the invention of printing, are taken into consideration, 
it is scarcely possible to speak too highly of his industry 
and perseverance. His style, although often disfigured by 
the puerilities and pedantry of the times, is not deficient in 
an occasional copiousness and variety of expression. Dif- 
fuse and unequal as is its general character, it is sometimes 
distinguished by a strain of eloquence, that decidedly indi- 
cates the genius of the writer. In fine, his works evince a 
degree of learning and talent, not often united in the same 
author, and rare indeed for the period in which he flou- 
rished. 

A catalogue of his productions has been preserved, as 
drawn up by himself; but it is evidently incomplete. It 
embraces, however, nineteen different works ; and the order, 
in which they appear, may be presumed to be that in which 
they were written. The following is the list: — 1. Chro- 
nographia et Cosmographia Metrica*. 2. Topographia 
Hibernica. 3. Expugnatio Hiberniae. 4. De Legendis 
Sanctorum. 5. Vita Sti. Davidis. 6. Vita Sti. Caradoci. 
7. Vita Sti. Ethelberti. S. Vita Sti. Remigii. 9. Vita 
Sti. Hugonisf. 10. Liber de Promotionibus et Persecu- 
tionibus Gaufredi, Ebor. Abpi. 11. Symbolum Electo- 

* This work, he says, was written in hexameters and pentameters, in 
his juvenile years, and was more of a philosophical than a theological cha- 
racter. 

f The last two " saints," here mentioned, were Bishops of Lincoln. 



171 

rum. 12. Liber Invectionum*. 13. Speculum Duorum 
Commonitorium et Consolatoriumf. 14. Gemma Eccle- 
siastica. 15. Itinerarium Cambria?. 16. Cambrise Topo- 
graphia. 17. De Fidei Fructu, &c. 18. De Principis In- 
structions 19. De Gestis Giraldi laboriosis. In addition 
to these, it appears that he wrote also the Life of Henry II., 
the Acts of King John, an English Chronicle, the Praises 
of Wales, and a Metrical Epitome of his Cambrian Topo- 
graphy, besides several others of inferior interest. His 
works, relating to Ireland, were published by Camden, at 
Frankfort, in 1602, and those, having reference to Wales, 
by Dr. Powell, in 1585, and by Wharton, in his " Anglia 
Sacra," where may likewise be found his book " De Gestis 
Giraldi." The " Gemma Ecclesiastica" is also in print, 
and, perhaps, one or two othersj. There are numerous 
manuscript copies of his works in the British Museum, the 
archbishop's library at Lambeth, and in the public libraries 
of Oxford and Cambridge. 

Of all the works above specified, such as relate to Wales 
are more immediately connected with the present occasion. 
These, notwithstanding that they partake of the faults, 
common to the writings of Giraldus, especially in the adop- 
tion of legend and fable, embrace a variety of curious and 
interesting information ; and it may be of importance, with 

* This was written at Rome, at the desire of the Pope, and contained, 
probably, his invectives against the monks. 

t This was also a fulmination against the monks ; and he tells us, that it 
was the child of his resentment, " quod sola peperit indignatio." 

X But the greatest honour, that has been done by the typographical art to 
the memory of Giraldus, is the valuable translation of his Cambrian Itine- 
rary, by Sir R. C. Hoare, Bart., in two splendid quarto volumes, adorned 
with some excellent plates. It is also accompanied by many illustrative an- 
notations, of an interesting nature, as well as by an extended memoir of Gi- 
raldus, to which the present notice is considerably indebted. 



172 

respect to the value of this, to add, that the writer appears 
to have been well versed in the vernacular language of the 
country*. It was, indeed, his native tongue ; and it is not 
to be supposed, that a person, possessing his thirst for 
knowledge, would have remained in ignorance of it. 

To sum up, in a few words, the fame of Giraldus, whe- 
ther we regard him as a man or an author, whether with 
reference to his general or particular reputation, he must 
ever be numbered among those individuals who have con- 
ferred an honour on the times in which they lived, and 
whose merit ought to be recognized by posterity. 

* Had he not possessed this knowledge, he could not have explained the 
discourses of Archbishop Baldwin, to the Welsh peasantry, as he tells us he 
did, during his tour through the country, in company with that prelate. 
With respect to the errors in Welsh orthography, that disfigure his writings, 
they may reasonably be imputed to the carelessness, or ignorance, of tran- 
scribers. 



173 



LLYWELYN AB GRUFFYDD. 

In the whole history of Wales there is no portion of deeper 
interest than that, which records the final subjugation of the 
country by England. Whatever political benefits may since 
have resulted from this event, — and that many have, it 
would be vain to deny, — the Welsh patriot may still be 
excused, if he should occasionally revert with regret to that 
period, when his native land ceased to be numbered among 
independent nations. Nor is there any circumstance more 
likely to excite in him this feeling, than a reflection upon 
the sturdy and untameable valour, with which his ancestors 
so long maintained the unequal struggle in defence of their 
liberties*. Although we of these times are enabled, by 
experience, to appreciate the advantages that have followed 
the unsuccessful issue of their exertions, it must have been 
impossible for them, without the gift of prophecy, to con- 
ceive, that any thing but misfortune and disgrace would 
ensue from their subjection to their powerful and inveterate 
enemy. The ambitious spirit evinced by the English mo- 
narchs in their protracted warfare with Wales, and parti- 
cularly the repeated discomfiture of their most formidable 



* If we reckon this struggle to have continued, as it almost did, from the 
final departure of the Romans, in 446, to the conquest of Wales by Edward, 
in If 82, we shall find that it lasted during a period of 836 years. In this 
calculation the inhabitants of Wales are necessarily regarded as the legiti- 
mate descendants of the ancient Britons, or Cymry, by whom the Saxons, 
and other foreign tribes, from their first invasion of the island,, were so reso- 
lutely opposed. 



174 

attacks, could only, on the eventual conquest of the country, 
have given birth to the most ominous apprehensions. The 
conquered could have little to anticipate but an exposure 
to those calamities, which have too often accompanied the 
vindictive triumph of long-foiled ambition. We cannot, 
then, be surprised at the resolute courage with which they 
rallied around the standard of their independence, or that, 
even at this remote period, a reflection on their patriotic 
perseverance should awaken, in some breasts, the emotions 
of sympathy and regret. 

But it is not merely the valorous spirit, with which the 
Welsh asserted their freedom, that communicates to the 
era of its extinction a particular interest. The fall of a 
nation, celebrated only for its warlike achievements, might 
not be the object of much lamentation; but the courageous 
resistance of the Welsh was associated with circumstances, 
that have peculiar claims on our sympathy. The simple 
and unsophisticated manners of the people, the virtues of 
hospitality by which they were distinguished, and an en- 
thusiastic fondness for their national music, bear sufficient 
testimony to the general amiableness of their character. 
With these qualities they united an ardent love of liberty, 
and a contented attachment to their native hills, which 
ought to have secured them from the designs of ambition. 
Such are, briefly, the peculiarities* that confer an interest- 
ing celebrity on the epoch to which the ensuing memoir 
relates ; and the individual, whose life it records, was avow- 

* The reader will perceive that the favourable traits alone of the ancient 
Welsh character are here specified. That it had also its dark shades, it 
would be absurd to deny ; but they were, by no means, of so deep a hue as 
to neutralize the brighter tints above noticed, A restless spirit of discord, 
so often adverted to in the foregoing pages, was, perhaps, the most promi- 
nent blemish in the national portrait. 



175 

edly the most conspicuous character in the political drama, 
that was then acted. 

Llywelyn ab Gruffydd, so called to distinguish him from 
several other Welsh chieftains of the same name, was the 
last of Welsh descent that bore sway in the Principality. His 
father, Gruffydd, was the illegitimate son of Llywelyn ab 
Iorwerth, and could not, therefore, bequeath to his offspring 
any natural right to the sovereignty*. Nor does it appear, 
that Llywelyn entertained any hope of this distinction before 
the circumstances of the times conferred it upon him. During 
the reign of his uncle Davidf he seems to have spent a life 
of retirement at a place called Maesmynan, in the county of 
Flint, in the quiet enjoyment of some possessions that he 
had inherited from his fatherj. Upon the death of Prince 
David, in 1246, Llywelyn and his brother Owain were 
unexpectedly elected princes of North Wales, to the ex- 
clusion of Sir Ralph Mortimer, who, as having married 
Gwladus, the only daughter of Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, was 
legal heir to the throne. But his foreign extraction made 
him, naturally, an object of jealousy, and especially, as, by 
his marriage, he had become so nearly allied to the English 
crown§. 



* Gruffydd was killed, a few years before Llywelyn's election to the sove- 
reignty, by a fall in attempting to escape from the Tower of London, where 
he was in confinement as one of the hostages sent by his brother, David, to 
Henry III. 

f David was the only legitimate son of Llywelyn ab Iorwerth. He held 
the sovereignty of North Wales from 1238 to 1246. 

t These were the hundreds of Englefield, Dyfryn Clwyd, Rhos, and 
Rhyvoniog, in the counties of Flint and Denbigh, comprising the maritime 
country between Chester and Conway. 

§ Joan, the wife of Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, and mother of Gwladus, was 1 
sister to Henry III. Consequently Sir Ralph Mortimer became, by his mar- 
riage, nephew-in-law to the king. 



176 

Llywelyn and his brother had scarcely taken possession 
of their joint dignity before Henry III., on hearing of their 
uncle's death, resolved on renewing the hostilities by which 
he had harassed Wales during the two preceding reigns*. 
He, accordingly, invaded North Wales in person, at the 
head of a numerous force, and succeeded so far, as to gain 
some important concessions from Llywelyn, as well as the 
relinquishment of his patrimonial estate, which Henry be- 
stowed on his son Edwardf. The Welsh, on this occasion, 
as was often their practice, retired to the mountainous dis- 
tricts; and Henry, being unable to dislodge them from their 
fastnesses, thought it most prudent to return, having first 
concluded a peace on the terms above noticed, which, al- 
though by no means honourable to Llywelyn, can hardly 
be considered as indicative of a decisive triumph on the part 
of the English. 

Nine years of tranquillity succeeded this event, and 
Llywelyn was at leisure to cultivate the arts of peace, to 
which he appears to have been, from his nature, attached, 
however the circumstances of the times may have forced 
him, during the greatest part of his reign, into opposite 
measures. His dominions were thus on the eve of recover- 
ing the prosperity, of which they had been deprived by a 
long succession of hostilities and the calamities consequent 
on them, when domestic dissension, that national sin of the 
Welsh, suddenly terminated this insidious state of affairs. 

* Those of Llywelyn ab Iorwei th and David, during which the English 
appear to have gained several advantages in Wales. 

t The concessions, here alluded to, were— that Llywelyn should serve Hen- 
ry in Wales or the Marches with 1000 foot and 24 horse, or with 500 foot 
only elsewhere, and that he should hold the Principality under the English 
crown; but he was, on the other hand, to continue to receive the homage of 
the Welsh nobles. 



m 

Owain, Llywelyn's brother, had, it seems, become dis- 
contented with the possession of a share only in the sove- 
reign power, and, in consequence, formed a resolution of 
attempting the acquisition of the whole. With this view, 
he seduced to his cause his younger brother David ; and 
both, having united what forces they could collect, made 
open war on Llywelyn. The latter, however, was fully 
prepared for the event, and marched against his rebellious 
kinsmen with a large army. A sanguinary contest en- 
sued, which remained long in doubt ; but, at length, the 
cause of justice was triumphant, and Owain and David, 
after a signal defeat, were obliged to surrender themselves 
into the hands of the conqueror. Llywelyn's conduct on 
this occasion proves that he knew how to temper justice 
with mercy. Instead of consigning his brothers to the 
general fate of unsuccessful traitors, he was satisfied with 
inflicting the comparatively lenient penalty of imprisonment, 
and a confiscation of their estates. 

The entire sovereignty had now devolved on Llywelyn, 
and, with it, an accumulation of the cares peculiar to his 
responsible station. For the English, who were in posses- 
sion of a considerable territory on the borders of North 
Wales, profiting by the recent insurrection in the country, 
had subjected the Welsh chieftains, within their power, to 
a variety of the most cruel oppressions*. And, so intoler- 
able, at length, had their sufferings become, that they united 
in a spirited remonstrance to Llywelyn, soliciting his assist- 
ance, and declaring their resolution to seek an honourable 

* Prince Edward, afterwards Edward I., is charged with having been 
not only privy to these oppressions, but also a principal instigator of them. 
Not merely were the estates of the Welsh nobility seized without the ad- 
mission of any appeal, but the individuals themselves were exposed to the 
severest punishments on the slightest pretences. 

N 



178 

death rather than submit any longer to the arbitrary dominion 
of the English. The spirit, thus manifested by these Welsh 
nobles, harmonized so well with the policy of Llywelyn, that 
he promised to afford them all the aid in his power towards 
the redress of their grievances, and by which he hoped, at the 
same time, to rid himself of intruders so dangerous to the 
security of his throne. Nor was he tardy in the execution 
of his design ; for, having raised a considerable force, he, 
in the space of a single week, recovered from the enemy all 
the conquests they had made, during the late reigns, in the 
interior of North Wales, as well as in the counties of Me- 
rioneth and Cardigan, a considerable portion of which had 
been seized by Prince Edward. The prompt and decisive 
advantage, thus gained by Llywelyn, was followed by other 
successes against some of the native chiefs, who had taken 
part with the enemy, and particularly, in the next year, 
by a signal triumph over Gruffydd ab Gwenwynwyn, lord 
of Powys, who had been distinguished by the extent and 
activity of his treason. Nearly the whole of his territory 
was seized by Llywelyn, who divided it, with most of the 
other conquered lands, amongst such of his followers as 
were most remarkable for their fidelity, thus giving an in- 
stance, at once, of his disinterestedness and his policy*, 

Llywelyn might be supposed, by these successes against 
his foreign and domestic enemies, to have ensured, for a 
time at least, the repose of his dominions. But the 
treachery, that had been so recently foiled in its open at- 
tempts, was still in secret operation against him. Rhys 

* The only portion of all his conquests, which he reserved for himself, was 
an estate that had belonged to Sir Roger Mortimer. Among the chieftains, 
whom he thus rewarded, was Meredydd ab Rhys, on whom he bestowed the 
lordship of Buallt ; and his liberality to the father was subsequently re« 
quited by the treachery of the son. 



179 

Vychan, one of the apostate chiefs who had thus suffered*, 
had immediate recourse to Henry III., whose powerful as- 
sistance he implored towards recovering his possessions. 
The king, having also his own losses to retrieve, made no 
hesitation in acceding to this request. He, accordingly, 
dispatched a large force into South Wales, where, after 
having laid an unsuccessful siege to the castle of Dinewwr, 
it was met by Llywelyn. The encounter between the 
two armies was of a bloody and obstinate character, but 
was eventually decided in favour of the Welsh, whose op- 
ponents made a precipitate retreat, with the loss of more 
than two thousand men on the field of battle, besides seve- 
ral individuals of rank that remained captives in the hands 
of the victors. The Welsh prince, while on his triumphant 
return to North Wales, laid waste a great portion of the 
country through which he passed, as belonging, most pro- 
bably, either to the English settlers or to the rebel Welsh 
chieftains. Although these excesses may not have been 
entirely justifiable, it must not be forgotten that they were 
committed in the elation of victory, as well as under the 
influence of circumstances peculiarly irritating. 

Upon Llywelyn's arrival in North Wales, he received nu- 
merous complaints of the oppressive conduct of Prince 
Edward's lieutenant*, who had the superintendence of the 
territory lately ceded to Henry by the treaty between him 
and Llywelyn. Exasperated by this information, and re- 
taining, most probably, an acute sense of the humiliation 
he had suffered in surrendering his paternal estate, the 
Welsh prince determined at once to avenge his own wrongs 



* He was lord of Buallr, m the county of Brecon, and bad, but a few 
years before, been opposed to the English. 
f Geoffrey de Langley. 

N 2 



180 

and those of his subjects. With this view, he advanced, 
with a powerful army, towards Chester, ravaging the whole 
country as far as the gates of the city. Edward felt him- 
self wholly unprepared to repel an assault so vigorous and 
unexpected. He accordingly applied for assistance to his 
uncle, the king of the Romans, from whom he received 
considerable supplies both of men and money ; but even 
these did not enable him to take the field against Llywelyn, 
who, as we learn from the Welsh historians, had, on this 
occasion, under his command, " ten thousand armed men, 
every one sworn to die in the field (if need required) in de- 
fence of his country*." Treason, however, was still in 
activity against the Welsh chief; for we find Gruffydd ab 
Madog, lord of Dinas Bran, joining the hostile league 
against his prince and his native land. 

Yet, notwithstanding this accession of force, Edward 
was still unequal to any immediate operations, and Llywelyn, 
having no employment for his troops in this quarter, once 
more turned his arms against the English possessions in 
South Wales. After some partial successes, he made an 
incursion into the territory of Gruffydd ab Madog, upon 
which he took ample revenge for the treacherous conduct 
of its proprietor. On his return home he was suddenly 
met by Prince Edward, whom, however, he compelled to 
retreat with precipitation and dishonour. This seems to 
have been the first occasion, on which Llywelyn and 
Edward were personally opposed ; and, being both young 
and nearly perhaps of an agef, the spirit of emulation 
must have been keenly felt on both sides. It is hardly then 



* See H. Llwyd'vS " Historie of Cambria," p. 321. 

t Edward was at this time (1257) about eighteen, Llywelyn may have 
been a few years older. 



181 

to be doubted, that the repulse experienced on this occa- 
sion by Edward, united with his sense of the hatred which 
the Welsh had contracted towards him*, was not only pro- 
ductive of present mortification, but laid the foundation of 
that implacable animosity, with which he afterwards pur- 
sued the rival, over whose fortunes he was destined to 
triumph. 

A strong remonstrance from the kings of England and 
Scotland was, about this period, made to Llywelyn on the 
subject of his hostile proceedings, but to which he paid so 
little attention, that he immediately renewed his operations 
against the domains of Prince Edward, with a force of 
three thousand infantry, and one thousand horse, well 
armed and appointed. With these, divided into two de- 
tachments, he again invaded the English frontier in the 
vicinity of Chester, exposing it to all the horrors of spolia- 
tion and pillaget. Edward, who was still unable to stem 

* Although this hatred had its origin, principally, in the oppressive con- 
duct already noticed on the part of Edward and his dependants, it should 
be attributed also, in some degree, to the attempts that were made to im- 
pose the English jurisdiction on that part of Wales, which was under 
Edward's immediate controul. These impolitic measures excited the po- 
pular indignation against the English in a remarkable manner. 

t Warrington, in his w History of Wales," a work distinguished by its ge- 
neral accuracy, seems to have been greatly misled in his estimate of 
Llywelyn's force upon this occasion. He represents it as having consisted 
of " two bodies of 30,000 foot, and 500 horse each, covered with armour." 
The account of Matthew of Westminster, however, who has been followed 
in this instance by H. Llwyd, is far more conformable with the circum- 
stances of the times, and the nature of Llywelyn's resources. What he 
says is, that the army was divided " into two battles, in every of the which 
there were 1,500 footmen, and 500 horsemen well appointed." See " His- 
toric of Cambria," p. 322. And it will be allowed, that even this latter 
number of " well-appointed" troops was considerable for the Welsh in that 



182 

the torrent that thus rolled against him, applied for suc- 
cour to Ireland ; but Llywelyn, being apprised of the cir- 
cumstance, sent out some vessels, which defeated the Irish 
squadron off the coast of Anglesey, and thus intercepted 
the expected supplies. 

This succession of disasters and defeats could not fail in 
having the most exasperating effect on the temper of Henry 
and his ambitious son. Accordingly, with the design of 
avenging themselves fully on the Welsh prince, they sum- 
moned their military vassals, agreeably with the custom of 
the times, from St. Michael's Mount to the Tweed, and 
marched directly for North Wales. Llywelyn does not ap- 
pear to have offered any immediate resistance to this move- 
ment. Conscious, perhaps, of the danger of risking a ge- 
neral engagement where the enemy must have been so su- 
perior in numbers, and anticipating the route of the Eng- 
lish, he laid siege to the Castle of Diganwy, on the Con- 
way. Henry's army arrived, however, in time to defeat 
this attempt, and to compel the Welsh forces to retreat. 
Llywelyn, on this occasion, with his accustomed caution, 
took refuge among the strong holds of Snowdon, having 
first destroyed all the resources which could be of use to 
the enemy. Henry, thus baffled by the policy, as he had 
before been by the valour, of his antagonist, was driven to 
the mortifying necessity of retreating to Chester, to secure 
such remains of his army, as had escaped the ravages of 
famine and fatigue. 

Notwithstanding Llywelyn had thus far foiled the de- 
signs of the English, he does not appear to have been 
anxious for the continuance of hostilities, even when they 
might have been pursued with a fair chance of success, 
but, availing himself of what he considered a favourable 
opportunity, he made offers of peace to Henry. These, 



183 

however, were rejected with indignation, owing, perhaps, 
to Prince Edward's deep-rooted enmity. The eternum sub 
pectore minus, which influenced his conduct in this re- 
spect, was not to he healed, as subsequently appeared, by 
any thing short of the complete subjugation of the coun- 
try ; and, however sincere Llywelyn may, at any time, have 
been in his conciliatory proposals, he could attain no hap- 
pier fate than to snatch from the political convulsions of his 
country a precarious enjoyment of that independence, which 
he wished, it is probable, to secure on the stable grounds of 
public peace and tranquillity. 

Nothing now remained for the Welsh prince but to pro- 
secute the war with vigour, and to cause Henry and his 
son, since they would not receive him as a friend, at least 
to respect him as an enemy. Acting perhaps from these 
motives, he entered Powys, at that time under the influence 
of England, and, after chastising the rebellious conduct of 
GrufFydd ab Gwenwynwyn, prince of that province*, and, 
exacting the submission of GrufFydd ab Madog, he ex- 
tended his march into Herefordshire, the territory of Gil- 
bert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, whom he defeated in a 
general battle ; and a great part of the country, with all 
the principal fortresses, became the fruits of the victory. 
These successes brought Henry once more into the field ; 

* According to the laws of Hywel Dda, the Prince of North Wales, or 
Gwynedd, had a paramount authority over the princes of the other two di- 
visions of Wales, who were tributary to him. Consequently GrufFydd ab 
Gwenwynwyn, as Prince of Powys, owed Llywelyn the duties of allegiance : 
and the more so as, at the period to which this note has reference, the three 
territories, into which Wales was anciently divided, with the exception per- 
haps of Gwynedd, no longer preserved their former importance. They were 
subdivided into various petty lordships, over all of which Llywelyn enjoyed, 
or at least assumed, the nominal sovereignty. See p. 99, suprd.. 



184 

but, notwithstanding some reinforcements he had obtained 
from Ireland and France, he was obliged to limit his enter- 
prise to the destruction of some standing corn in the neigh- 
bourhood of the Marches. It does not appear, however, 
that Llywelyn was opposed in person to him on this occa- 
sion, or that he was engaged in the skirmishes, which took 
place, about the same period, with some foreign mercenaries 
under the command of Lord Audley*. 

Soon after these events, probably in the year 1258, a fresh 
confederacy was formed between the Welsh nobles, who, in 
the most solemn manner, renewed their vows to defend 
their country to the last extremity against the ambitious 
views of the English. Llywelyn, profiting by this favour- 
able spirit, raised a considerable force for the purpose of 
invading the English possessions in South Wales ; and, be- 
fore he set out, he delivered an animated address to his 
army, recommending a general reliance on the protection of 
Providence, and urging them, in an energy of language in- 
spired by the solemnity of the occasion, to prefer an ho- 
nourable death to an inglorious submission. The enthu- 
siasm of the prince was speedily communicated to his fol- 
lowers; and thus auspiciously commenced a campaign, 
which, however, in its results was far from realizing the 
flattering prospect. Llywelyn, after subjecting the county 
of Pembroke, then chiefly in the occupation of English or 
Flemish settlers, to the devastations common in that age, 

* These were some German horsemen, who, by the size of their horses 
and their novel mode of fighting, overthrew the Welsh without difficulty in 
their first encounter. But the latter soon learnt by experience if not to 
rival, at least to evade, the tactics of their assailants, and, having, according 
to their common practice, seduced the Germans into a defile, took advan- 
tage of an ambuscade to be amply revenged for their former defeat. 



185 

renewed his proposals for peace. But, Henry appears to 
have been still unwilling to accede to them ; and the nego- 
ciation terminated in a year's truce. 

An opportunity now presented itself to Llywelyn for turn- 
ing his circumstances to peculiar advantage. He had re- 
duced, the greatest part of the Principality under his domi- 
nion, and had, at least, suspended the animosity of his 
foreign enemies. If, at such a juncture, he had directed 
his efforts towards composing the jealousies, and harmo- 
nizing the conflicting interests, of his subjects, he might 
have laid the basis of his country's prosperity. But it 
was, perhaps, less his own fault than that of the times, that 
he did not adopt this liberal system of policy. Instead of 
profiting by this temporary tranquillity to secure the repose 
of the future, we find him involved in dissensions with his 
nobles, whose territories had suffered during the recent 
hostilities. 

However, Llywelyn was still anxious for the preservation 
of peace, and, after procuring a renewal of the truce in 
1259, he made fresh overtures, which it is difficult to recon- 
cile with the spirited resolution he had formed but a year 
before. He made a proposal to pay Henry sixteen thou- 
sand pounds weight of silver*, provided his boon were 
granted, and his subjects secured in the enjoyment of their 
customs and privileges with the right of having their legal 
disputes decided at Chester; but Henry was still inexorable, 
and all Llywelyn could obtain was the extension of the truce 
for a third year. 



* He had previously offered four thousand marks to the king, three hun- 
dred to his son, and two hundred to the queen, but which Henry is said to 
have rejected as an inadequate compensation for the injuries committed by 
the Welsh on his territories. 



186 

It is probable enough that the English monarch, in ac- 
ceding to this extended suspension of hostilities, had only 
in view to avail himself of a favourable opportunity for 
again assailing his rival, who, on the other hand, was not 
a little exasperated by the repeated failure of his pacific 
designs. Regardless, therefore, of the apparently hollow 
truce which had just been granted, Llywelyn resolved upon 
fresh enterprises against the possessions of the English in 
South Wales, and especially of those chieftains who had been 
most active in their support of Henry. Among these Sir 
Roger Mortimer, son of Sir Ralph Mortimer before alluded 
to, experienced more than any others the severity of the 
Welsh prince's resentment. All his territory in South 
Wales was either taken or cruelly ravaged; but during 
these excesses an incident occurred, which it may be worth 
while to record. The castle of Maelienydd, in Radnor- 
shire, had been captured and destroyed by Llywelyn : Sir 
Roger, then elsewhere engaged, hastened to the spot, at- 
tended only by a few followers, and, with a romantic bra- 
very, planted himself in the ruins, determining to defend 
them to the last extremity. The place was, however, soon 
so vigorously invested by the Welsh, that no hope re- 
mained to the besieged. Under these circumstances, Sir 
Roger requested permission to evacuate his position, which 
the Welsh prince immediately granted, in consideration of 
the courage evinced by his adversary, and of his inability 
to make any farther resistance, being unwilling, say his 
historians, to triumph over a defenceless enemy. This 
trait must be regarded as creditable to the memory of 
Llywelyn, and especially, as being so much at variance 
with the character of a people, by no means remarkable 
for their chivalrous sentiments. 

For the space of nearly two years Llywelyn continued, 



187 

without much opposition, to prosecute his conquests in 
South Wales, which he at length closed by securing the 
allegiance of a considerable portion of the population, that 
had before been inimical to him*. These successes having 
left him at liberty to renew his hostile projects in other 
quarters, he invaded the English borders on the side of 
Shropshire and Cheshire, where he gained many important 
advantages over the Lords Marchers, as also, in the Earl- 
dom of Chester, over Prince Edward himself. Elated, 
most probably, by this prosperous turn of his affairs, he 
resolved upon attempting more useful conquests at home. 
With this view he laid siege to the castles of Diganwy and 
Diserth, both of which he destroyed. These were two of 
the strongest fortresses possessed by the English in North 
Wales. The former, in particular, both from its strength 
and the peculiarity of its situation, had always been a sub- 
ject of the most obstinate contestsf. The loss of it, there- 
fore, as it weakened the controul of the English over their 
maritime possessions in this quarter, must at once have mor- 
tified the pride, and rekindled the resentment, of Prince 
Edward, the immediate lord of the territory. He, accord- 
ingly, marched against Llywelyn, hoping to avenge his dis- 
aster; but his wily adversary had again taken refuge 
amongst his mountain bulwarks, and Edward found him- 

* These were the people of Brecon and the adjacent country, many of 
them, it is probable, previously under the dominion of Sir Roger Mortimer. 

f The castle of Diganwy, or Ganoc, as it was called by the English, stood 
on two small hills, at no great distance from the shore of the. Conway. It 
must have been an ancient fortress, as we find that Robert deRhuddlan 
was slain here by the "Welsh in 1088. It was afterwards destroyed by 
Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, but was rebuilt by Randulph, Earl of Chester, in 
1210. The year afterwards, King John encamped under its walls. The 
site of this old fortress is still to be traced in the vestiges of a round tower, 
and a few foundations of walls between the two hills. 



188 

self under the necessity of returning home, if not with dis- 
grace, at least without any particular honour. 

If any proof were wanted of the weakness of the English 
government at this period, it would be found in the length 
of time, during which Llywelyn's successful career conti- 
nued without any effectual resistance. The chief cause of 
this imbecility is, perhaps, to be traced to the character of 
the English armies, composed, as they then were, of feudal 
levies and mercenaries, suddenly assembled and as suddenly 
dispersed, having no interest in common, and, accordingly, 
actuated by none of those nobler principles, which are es- 
sential to military success in any important degree. Hence 
it was that Llywelyn, notwithstanding the general inferio- 
rity of his numbers, was enabled to support the protracted 
struggle, by means of that better spirit with which his fol- 
lowers appear to have been animated. In one case we see 
vassals and hirelings leagued to extend the empire of an indi- 
vidual, to whom they had, for the most part, no natural 
attachment, while, in the other, we behold a band of patriots 
voluntarily uniting in the protection of their native soil, 
against the aggressions of an inveterate foe. 

But what in no small degree contributed to the promo- 
tion of Llywelyn's projects, at the period in question, was 
the insurrection of Simon de Montford, Earl of Leicester. 
This nobleman had, in 1261, been entrusted with a for- 
midable body of troops, collected from the northern and 
midland counties of England, for the purpose of invading 
the Principality. But, when he might, perhaps, have struck 
the decisive blow, he treacherously abandoned the enter- 
prise, and turned his arms against his natural sovereign. 
He afterwards openly espoused the cause of Llywelyn, to 
whom he afforded essential aid, as well by his successes 
against Sir Roger Mortimer and other Lords Marchers, as 



189 

by his triumph over Prince Edward, whom he kept, for 
some time, a prisoner in the castle of Hereford. 

These proceedings of Montford had the effect of draw- 
ing down on the head of Llywelyn, as his supposed or actual 
confederate, not only the fresh resentment of Henry, but 
also the thunders of the church, which were indignantly 
levelled against him. But a general peace suddenly occa- 
sioned the dispersion of this menacing tempest ; and Llyw- 
elyn found himself once more in the enjoyment of a tem- 
porary repose. The reverses of Montford induced him, 
about this period, to seek an asylum with the Welsh prince, 
on whose gratitude he naturally imagined he had some 
claim. The ascendancy, which the Earl of Leicester had 
recently acquired over the fortunes of Henry, caused 
Llywelyn to seize this event as affording a favourable op- 
portunity for establishing his own interests. So, suffering 
his gratitude, for the moment, to be controuled by his po- 
licy, he promised the protection solicited, as well as his 
open co-operation, on condition that Montford would, in 
the royal name, acknowledge the independence of Wales, 
and give up some important fortresses on the Marches*. 

These concessions, as being in a great degree merely no- 
minal, were readily granted, and the earl added to them 
the offer of his daughter Eleanor's hand ; a proposal, which 
appears to have been peculiarly agreeable to Llywelyn. This 
treaty between the two chiefs was followed by a more active 
alliance. Llywelyn invaded the possessions of the English 



* There were the castles of Mold, Hawarden, and Montgomery, with 
the lordships of Ellesmere and Whittington. Of the first castle, here men- 
tioned, see some account in p. i30, supi-H, and to which it may here be added, 
that it was taken by Gruffydd ab Gwenwynwyn, on the part of the English, 
in 1263, but two years previous to the time, when its surrender was thus 
stipulated by Montford. 



190 

In Glamorganshire, but without contributing any material aid 
to the cause of his ally ; and the battle of Evesham, so 
fatal to the aspiring hopes of Montford, soon afterwards 
dissolved a confederacy, which, for more than two years, 
had considerably strengthened the interests of the Welsh 
prince. 

Upon the suppression of Montford's rebellion, Henry, as 
was natural enough, directed his thoughts once more to- 
wards Lly welyn, with the desire of being revenged for the 
part he had recently acted. He had even proceeded so 
far as to make new preparations for the invasion of Wales, 
when he was prevented by the mediation of the Pope's le- 
gate, at whose instance a peace was concluded between the 
two princes upon terms of mutual advantage. Among the 
principal conditions, Llywelyn was to pay twenty-five thou- 
sand marks ; in consideration of which he was to retain the 
sovereignty of Wales, and the feudal privileges attached to 
it. A treaty to this effect was signed at Montgomery in 
1267, and received the papal sanction by the hand of his 
legate*. Thus terminated the hostility that had so long 
subsisted between Llywelyn and Henry ; for, during the 
remaining five years of that monarch's reign, Llywelyn ad- 
hered, with an honourable fidelity, to the terms of the 
treaty, and enjoyed the benefit of his conduct in the un- 
interrupted tranquillity that succeeded. But this fallacious 
calm was only the prelude to that memorable era, in which 
the national liberties of Wales were to be for ever quenched 
in the blood of her children. 

Edward, who was engaged in the holy wars at the time 
of his father's death, had not long returned home, before 

* The account above given is from Rymer, p. 843-4. Matthew of West- 
minster says the sum, to be paid by Llywelyn, was 32,000Z. 



191 

he sent a summons to Llywelyn to do homage at his ap- 
proaching coronation. This order, however, the Welsh 
prince thought proper to disobey; and, notwithstanding 
that, during the two following years, five or six mandates, 
to a similar effect, were sent to him by Edward, he reso- 
lutely persisted in his refusal, unless some English nobles 
of distinction were delivered as hostages for his security. 
Llywelyn had, indeed, undertaken, by his treaty with 
Henry, to do homage for the Principality, upon condition 
that the Welsh lords should remain feudatories to himself 
only ; and, while Henry lived, this condition was strictly 
observed. Edward, however, animated, no doubt, by his 
old enmity against the natives of Wales, had thought pro- 
per to violate the treaty both in this respect and in some 
others. For, he had not only made a violent seizure of 
some Welsh baronies, but had openly countenanced seve- 
ral of Llywelyn s subjects who had revolted against him*. 
Under such circumstances, the latter was fully justified in 
refusing to risk his person at the English court without a 
proper indemnity ; for a monarch, who had already shewn 
his disregard of the solemn engagements of a treaty, might 
not be very scrupulous in his observance of more ordinary 
duties. Llywelyn, accordingly, transmitted a memorial to 
England +, explaining, with firmness and moderation, the 

* Among these were his brother David, and Gruffydd ab Gwenwynwyn, 
Prince of Powys. 

t This memorial, which is still preserved, is addressed to the lt Arch- 
bishops of Canterbury, and York, and the rest of the Bishops in Convoca- 
tion." After detailing his various wrongs in the most dispassionate manner, 
as well as the obvious hazard of his personal attendance in England, Llywel- 
yn thus concludes : " We, therefore, desire your lordships earnestly to weigh 
the dismal effects, that must happen to the subjects both of England and 
Wales upon the breach of the Articles of Peace, and that you would be 
pleased to inform the king of the sad consequences of another war, which 



192 

motives that influenced his conduct, and offering, at tlie 
same time, to perform the homage required at any place, 
where his personal safety might be ensured. 

This resolute conduct on the part of Llywelyn had the 
natural effect of exasperating Edward, who was, however, 
in all probability, rejoiced at the pretext it afforded him for 
renewing his designs against the independence of Wales. 
And to the execution of these he received an additional in- 
citement, in the zeal with which he was seconded by his 
parliament and prelates, at whose suggestion the penalties 
of outlawry and excommunication were awarded to the al- 
leged contumacy of the Welsh prince, without any regard 
to the justice of his cause, or the patriotism of his motives. 

During the progress of these proceedings, which occu- 
pied a period of more than three years, Llywelyn formed 
the resolution of claiming the hand of Eleanor de Mont- 
ford, who had been formerly betrothed to him by her father. 
Eleanor was, at this period, the inmate of a French con- 
vent*; and Llywelyn, accordingly, made application to the 
king of France for her release. This request met with im- 
mediate compliance, not only from the king, but likewise 
from the widow of the late Earl of Leicester ; and Eleanor 
was, in consequence, sent with her brother for the purpose 
of becoming the bride of Llywelyn. The vessel, however, 
which bore them, fell unfortunately into the hands of the 
English, and Eleanor and her brother were made prisoners. 
They were both conducted to Edward, who felt, it is too 

can in no way be prevented, but by using us according to the conditions of 
the former peace, which, for our part, we will in no measure transgress. 
But, if the king will not hearken to your counsel, we hope that you will 
hold us excused, if the nation be disquieted and troubled thereupon, which, 
as much as in us lieth, we endeavour to prevent." 
* At Montargis. 



193 

probable, a secret delight in this unexpected advantage 
over his enemy, though only to be retained at the expense 
of his honour. But Edward wanted the chivalrous genero- 
sity to part with so rich a prize; and the fair Eleanor was 
accordingly detained at the English court, where she con- 
tinued in easy captivity for three years. 

This incident was calculated, at once, to wound the 
pride, and awaken the indignation, of Llywelyn ; and his 
first impulse was to avenge the insult by an immediate ap- 
peal to arms. But, upon cooler reflection, he preferred 
trying previously the effect of negociation. With this view, 
he made the offer of a large sum for the ransom of Eleanor. 
But the overture was rejected, unless the money was to be 
accompanied by a compliance with the arbitrary demand, 
to which Llywelyn had already refused to accede*- and 
which he still resolved to resist. Even his love, however 
ardent and sincere, could not bribe him from the duty he 
owed to his country. There was now, therefore, no alter- 
native but arms; and the mutual exasperation of both 
princes was likely to communicate to the approaching con- 
test a character of peculiar obstinacy. 

But, appearances were deceitful* Edward at the head of 
a numerous body of vassals, who had assembled at Worces- 
ter, entered North Wales in the summer of 1277 ; and such 
were the superiority of his numbers and the celerity of his 
movement, or the want of preparation on the part of his an- 
tagonist, that the latter was compelled, without a battle, to 
take refuge among the inaccessible defences of Snowdon, 
and that, unluckily,- without having made any provision for 
such an emergency. The isle of Anglesey, too, was in the 
hands of the English, so that Llywelyn, who, perhaps, had 
depended on that quarter for supplies, was deprived of hi 
usual resource. In addition to this, there had been a ge- 



194 

neral defection amongst the chieftakis of South Wales, 
which destroyed the hope of any effective co-operation from 
thence. In this extremity, urged by the sufferings of his 
famishing soldiers, and without any chance of relief, the 
Welsh prince was under the mortifying necessity of offer- 
ing to capitulate. Some tender recollections, also, with re- 
spect to his beloved Eleanor, may, at length, have had their 
share in contributing to this unfavourable result. 

Edward, upon receiving these overtures, refused to listen 
to any terms, that were not founded in an unconditional 
surrender on the part of Llywelyn, who was to be indebted 
to the clemency of his conqueror for any indulgence he 
might receive. Arbitrary and humiliating as this proposal 
was, the Welsh prince did not feel himself in a condition 
to reject it. A treaty was accordingly concluded on this 
basis ; and such was the severity of the terms, that it is dif- 
ficult to conceive how a prince, of such acknowledged va- 
lour and spirit as Llywelyn, could have been forced, by any 
circumstances, to submit to them. He was not only to do 
homage annually in London, as had been formerly stipu- 
lated, but he was to deliver up all his prisoners, to restore 
all forfeited lands, to grant annuities to his rebellious bro- 
thers *, to resign the feudal supremacy over his barons, to 
pay a tribute of fifty thousand marks f, and even to sur- 
render to Edward a considerable portion of his dominions J, 

* These were Rhodri and David, to the former of whom he was to pay 
an annuity of 1000 marks, and to the latter, one of 500. Besides this, he 
was to reinstate his brother Owain in the lands which his treason had for- 
feited. 

f Llywelyn, however, was afterwards exonerated from the payment of 
this sum, as well as from a yearly tribute which he bad undertaken to pay 
for Anglesey. 

X The portion, thus surrendered, comprised the four hundreds before men- 



195 

while ten of the most considerable Welsh chieftains were 
to become hostages for the due observance of this degra- 
ding convention. Such form a part only of the conditions, 
which the generous clemency of Edward imposed on his 
unfortunate adversary; but it is scarcely to be doubted, 
that the present triumph of the English monarch was ren- 
dered more insolent by a remembrance of his past defeats. 
In return for the sacrifices thus exacted from Llywelyn, 
certain concessions were made to his subjects, which related 
chiefly to the administration of justice according to the 
forms usual in Wales, and to the enjoyment of their ancient 
customs and privileges. 

In compliance with the terms of this treaty, Llywelyn ac- 
companied the king to London, for the purpose of perform- 
ing the stipulated homage. He was attended on the occa- 
sion by several Welshmen of distinction with their retinues. 
The language and manners of the party appear to have 
been a subject of much merriment or derision to the Eng- 
lish ; a circumstance, which, considering the irascible tem- 
per of the Welsh, could not have had a very conciliatory 
effect*. Its result was, indeed, quite of an opposite na- 
ture; yet, whatever may have been Llywelyn's particular 
feelings, he chose to disguise them for the present, with the 
view, as it would appear, of securing an object, which, at 
this juncture, must have engrossed his chief thoughts. 
This was his marriage with Eleanor de Montford, who still 



tioned in the coarse of this memoir. See p. 175, suprd. In addition to this 
sacrifice, all the Welsh chieftains, except the five barons of Snowdon, were 
to hold their lands under the English crown. 

* The Welshmen, that accompanied Llywelyn on this occasion, were 
lodged in the village of Islington, where, from the strangeness of their ha- 
bits and customs, they were exposed to many mortifications. Llywelya 
himself, it may be presumed, had apartments nearer the court. 

o 2 



196 

continued in honourable captivity at the English court. 
And there can be little doubt that the same motive must 
have had an important influence on the Welsh prince in 
his assent to the humiliating treaty he had recently con- 
cluded. 

Soon after Llywelyn's return to Wales from the English 
metropolis, he received a somewhat imperative order from 
Edward to meet him at Worcester. This injunction, at 
any other season, the Welsh prince might have hesitated 
to obey ; but, on the present occasion, the private reason 
already noticed left him no choice. He hastened to the 
presence of the king, and, whatever mortification he may 
have endured, he considered himself perhaps amply re- 
munerated by being put in possession of the hand of his 
betrothed bride. The marriage took place on the 13th of 
October, 1278, in the presence of Edward and his queen, 
but not before the former, with his usual policy, had made 
the occasion a pretext for exacting some new submissions 
from the Welsh prince. He extorted from him a promise, 
on the very eve of the nuptial solemnity, not to afford pro- 
tection to any one that might have incurred the displeasure 
of the English crown. As soon as Llywelyn had secured 
the possession of his bride, he departed with her in haste 
to Wales, probably to his house at Aber, near Conway, 
where, about this time, he generally resided. 

For the two years succeeding, the Welsh prince appears 
to have resigned himself entirely to the enjoyment of his 
conjugal felicity, and might thus have consumed the re- 
mainder of his days, but for the calamity he sustained in 
the death of his wife, which took place in 1280*. This 

* The only issue of this marriage was one daughter, who, with her cousin, 
a daughter of David, spent the greatest part of her life in an English con- 
vent. — SeeRymer, vol. ii. p. 429. 



197 

event was, no doubt, the source of much affliction to Llyw- 
elyn, and appears to have had an effect of another nature in 
dissolving all the ties that had bound him to England ; and 
it is probable, that the grief natural to the occasion subsided, 
only to give place to a revival of the ancient animosity, 
heightened as it had been by recent events, that existed be- 
tween the two nations. While Eleanor lived, she had per- 
haps been able to conciliate his feelings on this subject, if 
indeed the remembrance of her father's fate and of her own 
wrongs had predisposed her to such a task. But whatever 
part she may have acted in this respect, Llywelyn appears 
to have considered himself, when she was no more, as at 
once liberated from all restraint. And it is more than pro- 
bable, that this notion was encouraged by a reflection on 
the arbitrary conduct pursued towards him by Edward, 
while his fortunes were, in a certain degree, at that mo- 
narch's disposal. 

But these were not the only considerations that tended 
to exasperate Llywelyn. The inhabitants of that part of 
North Wales, which had been ceded to Edward by the 
late treaty, had been since exposed not only to many inno- 
vations, as impolitic as they were vexatious, but also to a 
variety of frauds and oppressions. The people, unable and 
unwilling to submit any longer to such a system of tyranny, 
united in an appeal to David, Llywelyn's brother, to assist 
them in the redress of their wrongs. David, who had also 
been a sufferer from the same cause, at once sympathized 
with their grievances, and undertook, as far as he could, to 
avenge them ; and, as a preliminary measure, he renounced 
his unnatural allegiance to Edward, and became reconciled 
to his brother. He likewise engaged several other Welsh 
chieftains to unite in his cause. Llywelyn, animated by 
these events, disclaimed all farther submission to the condi- 



198 

tions of the late treaty, and seemed determined, by the vi- 
gour of his present conduct, to atone for the weakness of 
his former concessions. 

This resolution on the part of the two brothers was 
followed by a general insurrection, and Llywelyn and 
David obtained a few trivial advantages over the En- 
glish in the Marches, and jointly invested the castles of 
Flint and Rhuddlan. In the mean time, Edward, as may 
be supposed, was not inactive. On the contrary, he adopted 
immediate measures for the purpose, as he avowed, of en* 
tirely extinguishing that spirit of freedom from which he 
had experienced so much molestation. With this view he 
levied large contributions of men and money throughout 
his dominions*, and, by the formidable extent of his prepa- 
rations, paid an unwilling tribute to the importance of his 
antagonist. 

Edward, however, lost no time in carrying his designs 
into execution. He invaded North Wales, according to 
his usual practice, on the side of Chester, and marched di- 
rectly against Llywelyn, whom he pursued, as on former 
occasions, to the vicinity of the Conway. A partial defeat 
here checked his career, and compelled him to retreat, after 
having lost some of his principal officersf. This triumph 
on the part of Llywelyn was but of a temporary nature; for 
his more powerful adversary was soon in a condition to re- 
sume his operations. He again advanced, and arrived un- 
molested at the castle of Rhuddlan. 



* The taxes, that were imposed on this occasion, were not confined to 
England, but extended also to Ireland. 

f Edward lost, according to the most probable statements, fourteen 
standards and a great number of prisoners in this action. Lords Audley 
and Clifford were among the slain. The king was obliged in consequence 
to retreat as far as Hope, on the borders of Flintshire. 



199 

While these events were passing, Peckham, archbishop 
of Canterbury, actuated by a real or affected desire to serve 
Llywelyn, made an offer of his mediation between him and 
the king of England. His overtures to Llywelyn combine 
a singular mixture of admonition and menace, exhorting 
him on the one hand to a declaration of his grievances, and 
threatening him, on the other, with the severest penalties, 
both spiritual and temporal, in the event of his contumacy; 
alleging at one moment his lively interest in the fortunes of 
Llywelyn, and consigning him at another to the utmost 
vengeance of his hostility. To this extraordinary address 
Llywelyn replied in a tone of manly moderation, represent- 
ing the injurious infraction of the late treaty on the part of 
the English, together with his own anxiety for the preser- 
vation of peace, as long as it could be maintained without 
the sacrifice of his own honour or of the security of his 
subjects, and offering satisfaction for any wrongs committed 
by the Welsh, provided a correspondent disposition were 
manifested on the part of their enemies. This temperate 
answer was accompanied by a specification of the injuries 
of which the Welsh had to complain*. 

Nothing could be more equitable than these proposi- 
tions; but Edward, conscious of his strength, disdained to 
treat with his opponent on terms of equality. In answer 
therefore to the suggestion of the archbishop, who wished 
him to consider the subject of Llywelyn's complaint, and to 
allow the Welsh chiefs to plead their cause in his presence, 
he observed in equivocal terms, that they were at liberty to 
come and to depart again, if in justice they might. The 

* Among the wrongs, urged by Llywelyn, were the murder of religious 
persons in Wales, the wanton destruction of monasteries and convents, and 
many unwarrantable exactions committed by the English functionaries 
throughout the districts, over which they had any controul. 



200 

archbishop hastened to apprise Llywelyn of the king's an- 
swer ; but the Welsh prince, aware perhaps of its dupli- 
city, refused to accede to any conditions, that might com- 
promise his conscientious duty towards his subjects, or his 
respect for the dignity of his own station. 

This spirited resolve of Llywelyn was not calculated to 
bring the negociation to an amicable issue. The pride of 
the English monarch naturally took the alarm, and he de- 
clared his determination to be satisfied with nothing short 
of an unconditional surrender on the part of the Welsh. 
The archbishop, however, either of his own accord or with 
the secret connivance of Edward, made another effort to 
mediate between him and Llywelyn. But as the terms he 
proposed to the latter were in the same dictatorial strain, 
offering mercy on the one hand and threatening vengeance 
on the other, there was little probability that they could be 
attended with any success*. They were, oh the contrary, 
rejected by Llywelyn and his countrymen with a bold and 
indignant spirit, which not only operated with new force on 
the vindictive designs of Edward, but called down on the 
head of his adversary the spiritual fulminations of the arch- 
bishop, who from this time cast away the mask he had as- 
sumed, and became the avowed enemy of Llywelyn. 

The Welsh forces, which, under the immediate command of 
their prince, had remained during these negociations in the 
vicinity of Snowdon, resolved, with a Spartan fortitude, to 

* There were three propositions made in this instance by the arch- 
bishop : one of a public nature, and two others addressed in private to 
Llywelyn and David respectively. The public proposal related chiefly to 
the unconditional capitulation of Llywelyn and his nobles, and the private 
ones suggested the surrender of Snowdon on the part of Llywelyn, in ex- 
change for an English county, and, with reference to David, proposed his 
future residence in the Holy Land, during the king's pleasure. The Bishop 
of St. David's was the bearer of these generous conditions. 



201 

defend to the utmost point this last asylum of then* national 
liberties. Edward, who had been altogether at Rhuddlan, 
upon the final rejection of his proposals, marched towards 
the enemy, having first dispatched a part of his army by 
sea to take possession of Anglesey. This was effected 
without much opposition, though not without considerable 
bloodshed on the part of the natives, who became the un- 
offending victims of English revenge. Edward, by this 
exploit, hoped to take Llywelyn by surprise, by assailing 
him from a quarter against which he might not be pre- 
pared. With this view the English troops crossed the 
Menai by a bridge of boats, and landed at Moel-y-Don in 
the neighbourhood of Bangor. Llywelyn was aware of 
the movement, but made no opposition to it until the reflux 
of the tide had intercepted the communication with the 
boats. At this moment the Welsh forces, which had hi- 
therto been unperceived by the ' enemy, rushed from their 
mountain ambuscade, and assailed the English with so sud- 
den an impetuosity, that nearly the whole of their number 
fell by the sword or perished in the wave*. 

This disaster paralyzed for a moment the operations of 
the English monarch, and elevated in proportion the spirits 
and hopes of his rival. Llywelyn, indeed, in the elation 
of success, regarded his triumph as almost complete. Al- 
though still confined to his mountain fastnesses, he was 
abundantly supplied with provisions ; and, as the year was 
far advanced, he relied upon the certain retreat of the En- 
glish in the course of a short time ; and the superstitious 
notions of his followers, who applied to their situation some 



* Latimer, the commander, is said to have been the only one that sur- 
vived this disaster. The loss of the English comprised fifteen knights, 
thirty-two esquires, and about a thousand private soldiers. Among the slain 
were some individuals of the first distinction. 



202 

pretended predictions of Merlin, served to inspire a general 
confidence. Such was the deceitful gleam that irradiated 
the evening of Welsh independence. The lingering light 
was as yet above the horizon ; but the tempest was at hand, 
in which it was to be for ever obscured. 

The period we have just been considering was obviously 
the crisis of Llywelyn's fate ; and, had he evinced during 
it any of that prudent caution for which he had been re- 
markable on former occasions, he might have ensured for 
some years a peaceable and prosperous reign. But seduced 
by his recent success, he resolved upon tempting his fortune 
still farther ; and this resolution was the cause of his ruin. 
Edward, it has just been seen, had been unexpectedly 
baffled in his expedition against North Wales ; and it will 
afford us some idea of the extent of his disaster to learn, 
that he found it necessary to raise fresh levies throughout 
his dominions for the purpose of supplying his losses. 
While these preparations were going on, the king appears 
to have retired from the advanced post he occupied in the 
direction of Snowdon ; and Llywelyn, profiting by the cir- 
cumstance, set out in an evil hour with a part of his forces 
for South Wales, with the intention of encountering the 
English in that quarter. The mountainous position he had 
thus imprudently quitted was entrusted to the defence of 
his brother David, 

Soon after Llywelyn had reached Cardiganshire, he 
gained some partial advantages over one of the apostate 
chiefs of that country*. However, the English were in 
much greater strength than he appears to have anticipated, 
and their troops were reinforced after his arrival. His 

* This was Rhys ab Meredydd, who, during most of Llywelyn's wars, 
had espoused the cause of his enemies. This renegade chieftain was the 
son of Meredydd ab Rhys, mentioned in page 178. 



203 

prospect of any important advantages, therefore, as far as 
they depended on his own immediate resources, could not 
have been favourable. His force it is probable was not 
great, and in a country, so tainted by disaffection, he could 
have had but little chance of augmenting it. 

Under these circumstances he seems to have considered 
it advisable to hold a consultation with some of the native 
chieftains, whom he supposed to be in his interest, and ac- 
cordingly proceeded towards Buallt* for the purpose. He 
had previously posted the main body of his troops on an 
adjacent eminence, and had stationed a detachment at a 
bridge called Pont Orewyn, for the purpose of protecting 
the passage of the Wye at that place. According to the 
most authentic accounts that have reached us, Llywelyn 
himself remained, during this period, in a neighbouring 
wood, in expectation of some chiefs of the country, who 
had made an engagement to meet him there. But, if this 
was the case, it appears certain that Llywelyn was disap- 
pointed in the expected interview, even if he was not the 
victim of treachery, as there is some ground for supposing. 
However, while he remained in this state of inactive seclu- 
sion, the enemy had succeeded in crossing the Wye. The 
party at the bridge had indeed courageously maintained 
their post until they were assailed in the rear by a detach- 
ment of the English, which had unexpectedly forded the 
river. Llywelyn, too confident in the strength of his troops, 
or not sufficiently apprised of the force of the enemy, neg- 
lected to rescue himself, while yet he might, from his peri- 
lous situation. And, as he was thus reposing in a fatal secu- 
rity, a body of the Englishiiorse suddenly surrounded the 
wood in which he was. At length, aware of his danger, 
he made an effort to rejoin his forces ; but all attempts to 

* Now corruptly called Builth, 



204 

evade his impending doom were now unavailing. One 
Adam de Francton, a private soldier, as it would appear, in 
the English army, plunged his spear into the body of the 
unarmed and defenceless Llywelyn, in total ignorance, as it 
is said, of the quality of his victim*. 

The wound which Llywelyn had received, although 
mortal, did not immediately terminate his existence. The 
dying warrior had strength enough left to solicit the last 
consolations of religion ; and, in compliance with his wish, he 
was attended by a friar from an adjacent monastery. The 
English having soon afterwards defeated the Welsh, who 
must have been naturally dispirited both by the inferiority 
of their numbers and the absence of their prince, Adam de 
Francton returned to the spot where now lay the bleeding 
corpse of Llywelyn. He proceeded to plunder the body, 
and, while in this act, he suddenly discovered the rank of 
the deceased, by means of some private papers and other 
articles found in his possession. Elated with the idea of 
the triumph he had thus achieved, he severed the prince's 
head from his body, and dispatched it to Edward, who was 
at that time at Conway. 

The king is said to have received the bleeding trophy 
with a barbarous exultation unworthy not only of a magna- 
nimous prince, but also, it may be admitted, of the gene- 
ral tenour even of Edward's characterf. That he should 
rejoice in the fall of a formidable enemy, however distin- 

* This can hardly be reconciled with the popular notion, that Llywelyn 
was waylaid by the treachery of his countrymen, as in that case he must, 
in all probability, have been known to Francton. However, the subject 
is now involved in too much obscurity to justify any hope of ascertaining 
the truth. It appears certain, however, that the death of Llywelyn hap- 
pened at the place and in the manner here mentioned. 

t Powell, in his edition of Llwyd's " Historie of Cambria," says, that 
whenLlywelyn's head was sent to the king, " he received it with great joy." 



205 

guished by his valour, was by no means unnatural ; but the 
insult offered to his mangled remains must have been the 
result of Edward's experience in the school of Saracen 
cruelty. In order to render this insult complete, he sent 
the Welsh prince's head to London, where it was exhibited 
in a pillory, decorated, in savage derision of one of Merlin's 
predictions, with a silver wreath, to typify the crown it was 
to have worn. It was afterwards carried through the 
streets on a spear, and ultimately placed on the Tower of 
London. 

Nor were these the only indignities offered to the me- 
mory of Llywelyn. The Archbishop of Canterbury, as if 
infected by the vindictive spirit of his sovereign, withheld 
for some time the spiritual panacea of absolution, which, in 
that age of papal bigotry, could alone, under the circum- 
stances, entitle the body to Christian burial. However, upon 
his being afterwards apprised of the penitence evinced by 
Llywelyn in his last moments, the holy boon was conceded, 
and the remains of the prince were consigned to the tomb, 
as is conjectured, in the parish of Llanganten near Buallt, 
at a place which still seems to preserve in its name a record 
of the transaction*. 

Thus, in the year 1282, after a reign of twenty-eight 
years, perished the last native prince of the Cymry, whose 
name as an independent people was henceforth to be erased 
from the annals of nations. In reverting to the character 
of Llywelyn, we find it combining an union of qualities ap- 
parently irreconcileable. In his public capacity he appears 
to have generally inclined to the cultivation of peace, as 
was manifest on several occasions, and more particularly in 
the many pacific overtures he made to Henry III. at a time 
when he was far from being driven to such an alternative 

* This is Cwm Llywelyn, in the parish above mentioned, where is a spot 
catted to this day Cevn y Bedd or Cevn Bedd Llywelyn. 



206 

by the extremity of his fortunes. But on the other hand, 
his reign presents a series of struggles, which appear, upon 
a superficial view, to have been the result of a restless and 
turbulent spirit, impatient of controul, and delighting only 
in scenes of confusion and blood. This conclusion, how- 
ever, is to be drawn rather from the circumstances of the 
times than from the character of the man. For it seems 
to have been altogether his aim, as it was obviously his in- 
terest, to preserve the tranquillity of his dominions as long 
as that could be done without compromising his own ho- 
nour or the national independence. In his treaty with Ed- 
ward, indeed, he appears even to have forgotten for a mo- 
ment these paramount objects, in his desire for the restora- 
tion of peace ; but this was the effect of peculiar and un- 
controulable events, and we find him availing himself of the 
first favourable opportunity to repair the error he had per- 
haps involuntarily committed. 

And such opportunities were too easily found; for it 
rarely happened, during the reigns of Henry III. and his 
aspiring son, that the terms of any convention between 
the English and Welsh were long observed by the former. 
The Welsh appear to have been treated as a rebellious 
people long before the rights of conquest had given the 
English monarchs any claim to their allegiance; and the 
intervals of public hostility were too often used by the lat- 
ter for purposes of private oppression. In such a state of 
things a spirit of reciprocal enmity was naturally engen- 
dered between the two countries ; and, if Llywelyn partook 
of the national feeling in this respect, the circumstances in 
which it originated render it no reproach to his memory. 
It is sufficient for his fame, that he was never deaf to the 
call of his countrymen, when implored to protect them from 
insolence or persecution, and that, during a period of 
nearly thirty years, he was the patriotic champion of their 



207 

independence against the united assaults of foreign hosti- 
lity and domestic treason. In his military capacity he ge- 
nerally conducted himself with valour and caution; and, had 
his life been prolonged, he would, it is probable, have en- 
sured by a prudent administration the happiness and pro- 
sperity of his country. 

In his private character Llywelyn appears to have pos- 
sessed a humane and generous disposition, and not to have 
permitted the convulsions of the times to hurry him into 
the commission of any wanton excesses. From the lavish 
terms of praise, in which he is commemorated by several 
contemporary bards, we may infer that he was a friend to 
the national muse* ; and indeed it is traditionally related, 
that his social hours at Aber were often dedicated to her 
servicef. In a word, whether as a prince or a man, Llyw- 

* Among the poets, who have left elegies on his death, are Davydd 
Benvras, Bleddyn Vardd, and Gruffydd ab yr Ynad Coch. Their productions 
are to be found in the Arehaiology of Wales. It may be proper here to ob- 
serve, that there seems to be no authentic proof of the indiscriminate mas- 
sacre of the Welsh bards, traditionally ascribed to Edward I. At least, 
there is no positive testimony respecting it in the works of the poets that 
flourished after Edward's reign, who would have been the first to record 
such a deed of atrocity, if it had been actually perpetrated. It is probable 
then that the tradition may be indebted chiefly for its currency to Gray's 
celebrated Ode. That the bards were interdicted by Edward, under se- 
vere penalties, from exercising their influence over their countrymen, in 
opposition to his authority, may reasonably be presumed ; but the wholesale 
murder, with which that monarch is charged, is at variance with his general 
character and with the manners even of that uncivilized age. 

t It is said that, after his defeat of the English at Moel-y-Don, he spent 
the evening with his friends at Aber, and, in the hilarity of the moment, 
composed the following englyn f — 

" Mae'n Don llawer bron, llu'r brenin,— heddy w, 

Er hawdded ein chwerthin; 

Llawer Sais, leu-bais libin, 

Heb air na chwyth, vyth o'i vin." 
It may be proper to add, however, that the particular style of writing, 



208 

elyn appears to have been distinguished by many talents 
and virtues; and, with whatever interest we may regard 
him as the " last of the Cymry," we cannot omit the tribute 
due to his own personal qualities. 

conspicuous in this stanza, does not seem to have been cultivated at so 
early a period, or at least not in the perfection here exhibited. It first be- 
came common to Welsh prosody about the beginning of the fifteenth cen- 
tury. 



209 



DAVYDD AB GWILYM. 

Among the consequences, that resulted to Wales from its 
subjugation by Edward I., none is more remarkable than 
the discouragement of the national muse. That rich poet- 
ical feeling; which, in earlier periods of the Welsh history, 
had been the delight and pride of the country, seems to 
have suffered a temporary extinction; and nearly a cen- 
tury elapsed before we find any symptoms of its revival. 
This phenomenon in the literary annals of a people, pro- 
verbially distinguished for their attachment to poetry, is, in 
part, to be explained by a reference to the jealous policy of 
their conquerors, who, we may reasonably presume, exerted 
their utmost power to suppress a spirit, whose influence had 
been so inimical to their interests*. The clergy, in par- 
ticular, true to the intolerant principles of the Romish 
church, had arrayed themselves in determined hostility 
against the votaries of the awen, whose effusions, in more 
propitious times, had been devoted to the defence of reli* 
gious and political freedomf ; but, above all, the memora- 
ble events of this era — the overthrow of the national in* 
dependence, and the depressed condition of the Welsh 
chiefs — had paralyzed at once the hopes of the patriot and 



* See page 207 suprd for a note upon this subject. 

f This is more particularly true respecting the principles of the old Bar- 
die Institution, which encouraged a liberality of sentiment in all matters 
submitted to the inquiry of its members; and it is by no means improbable, 
that the early poets, especially before the time of the Conquest, inherited 
much of this characteristic feeling. 



210 

the energies of the bard. The only themes, that remained 
to the dispirited child of song, were those of regret and 
despair, and, rather than awaken with unavailing skill the 
" deep sorrows of his lyre," he chose to remain for ever 
mute. Like the disconsolate sons of Judah by the " wa- 
ters of Babylon," he hung up the useless instrument, and 
sat down to weep over the fall of his country*. 

Such are the causes that conspired, during the ominous 
interval under consideration, to quench the ardour of 
poetical genius among the natives of Wales ; and, upon 
the re-appearance of this intellectual light, about the 
middle of the fourteenth century, we find its character- 
istics essentially changed. Both in sentiment and style the 
awen of Wales had now undergone a complete revolution. 
The heroism, which in brighter days had sustained the 
national independence, no longer called forth the loftier 
strains of the muse. The bard was now content to tune 
his harp to the humbler themes that life supplies in its 
more private walks; and a system of poetry, of a tamer 
structure than was formerly known, was introduced to cor- 
respond with this important innovation. But, whatever me- 
rit the Welsh muse may thus have lost in point of fire and 
sublimity, it appears to have been, in some respect, compen- 
sated by the humour and vivacity which became afterwards 
its most prominent features f. 

* See the sublime and pathetic description given by the Royal Psalmist 
(Ps. cxxxvii.), of the affecting incident here alluded to. 

t It was about the year 1350, that the spirit of poetry revived, in Wales, 
from the trance into which it seems to have fallen upon the Conquest. From 
that epoch to the close of the century, there flourished several poets of con- 
siderable genius, the cotemporaries of Davydd ab Gwilyrii. The names 
of more than sixty have been preserved, together with some of their effu- 
sions. 



211 

The dawn of the epoch here noticed was signalized b 
the birth of Davydd ab Gwilym, on whom the appellation 
of the Petrarch of Wales has, with much propriety, been 
bestowed*. Cardiganshire has the honour of being the 
place of our poet's nativity : he first saw the light, about 
the year 1340, at a place called Bro Gynin, in the parish of 
Llanbadarn Vawr in that countyf. By his paternal an- 
cestry, however, he belongs to the other division of the 
Principality, as his father, Gwilym Gam, was a descendant 
of Llywarch ab Bran, head of one of the fifteen tribes of 
North Wales, and related by marriage to Owain Gwyn- 
eddj. The poet's mother was Ardudvul, sister of Llyw* 
elyn ab Gwilym Vychan, lord of Cardigan, and a person 
of some importance in that part of the country. 

Yet, whatever may have been Davydd ab Gwilym's pre- 
tensions to an illustrious descent, there is reason to believe 
that his birth was illegitimate, or, at least, that the union of 
his parents, if it had been previously sanctioned by legal 

* It may be proper to mention here, that the ensuing part of this me- 
moir is chiefly borrowed from the life of Davydd ab Gwilym, by the same 
author, that appeared in the third volume of the Cambro-Briton. It is, how- 
ever, in its present form much enlarged. It should likewise be stated 
that the writer is considerably indebted to the interesting biographical no- 
tice, from the pen of Dr. Owen Pughe, prefixed to the edition of this poet's 
works, published in 1789. 

f Davydd ab Gwilym adds one to the many instances of persons of ge- 
nius whose birth-place has been a subject of contest; for Anglesey has di- 
vided the claim to this honour with the county of Cardigan. The poet's 
works, however, in which he alludes to his native land, under the name of 
Bro Cadell, or the Country of Cadell, seems to place the matter beyond 
dispute, even if there were no other testimony; for, upon the partition of 
Wales by Rhodri Mawr, or Roderic the Great, in 876, his eldest son, Ca. 
dell, came into possession of South Wales. 

t Owain Gwynedd and he married two sisters, the daughters of Goronw 
ab Owain, lord of Tegaingl. 

P2 



212 

rites, had not received the countenance of their friends. 
At no distant period, however, a reconciliation must have 
been effected, as the embryo bard was taken in his infancy 
under the protection of his uncle, Llywelyn ab Gwilym, 
who is related to have been a man of some parts. He ac- 
cordingly became his nephew's tutor, and seems to have dis- 
covered in him the early indications of that particular ta- 
lent, for which he was afterwards so conspicuous, and in 
the cultivation of which Llywelyn afforded his young pupil 
all the encouragement and assistance in his power. 

About the age of fifteen Davydd ab Gwilym returned to 
his paternal home, where, however, he resided but a short 
time, owing, as it would appear, to the unpleasant bicker- 
ings that took place between him and his parents, in con- 
sequence of his satirical propensities, which, even at that 
early age, he could not restrain. Some of his effusions, 
written during this period, have been preserved ; and, what- 
ever ingenuity they may evince considering the years of the 
writer, they are by no means indicative of his filial affection. 
These domestic altercations caused the young bard once 
more to be separated from his natural guardians; and we 
accordingly find him, at an early age, enjoying, at Maes- 
aleg in Monmouthshire, the friendship and patronage of 
Ivor Hael, a near relative of his father*. 



* Ivor Hael was, by both parents, of a noble lineage: by his mother's side 
he was descended from Rhys ab Tewdwr, whose life has been recorded in 
these pages. He was the owner of several houses in South Wales, and of 
which the old mansion of Gwenallt in Monmouthshire was lately, if it be 
not still, in existence. The house, that was the usual residence of our poet, 
has long been in ruins. The Rev. Evan Evans, author of Dissertatio de 
Bardis, has made it the theme of his muse in the following couplet ; — 
" Y Uwybran gynt lie bu'r gan 

Yw Ueoedd y ddylluau." 

Lo! now the moping owlets haunt 

l?here erst was heard the muse's chaunt. Ivor 



213 

Ivor, deservedly surnamed Hael, or " the Generous/' re- 
ceived his young kinsman with an affectionate kindness, 
which he even carried so far as to appoint him his steward, 
and the instructor of his only daughter, although Davydd 
ab Gwilym's qualifications for these duties were not, it is 
probable, at that time, of the most obvious character. At 
least, the inconvenient effects of one of these appointments 
was too soon apparent in the reciprocal attachment that 
grew up between the poet and his fair charge. The pre- 
cise nature of Ivor's conduct towards the former on the 
discovery of this circumstance is not known; but he appears 
to have treated him with an indulgence,, which his own re* 
gard for the enamoured tutor could alone explain. He is 
recorded, however, to have been somewhat severe in the 
treatment of his daughter, whom he forthwith conveyed to 
a convent in the island of Anglesey. Thither she was fol- 
lowed by her devoted swain, who, in the humble capacity 
of a servant at a neighbouring monastery, consoled himself 
during his hours of disappointed love by offering to his 
mistress the tributes of his muse, all he had then to bestow. 
And several poems of considerable beauty are still extant, 
which he may be supposed to have written during this pe- 
riod. At length, apparently weary as well of this barren 
enjoyment as of his fruitless fidelity, he returned to the 
hospitable mansion of his patron ; and the welcome man- 
ner, in which he seems to have been again received, proves 
that his affection for the daughter had not produced any 
serious displeasure on the part of the father, however, from 
motives of prudence, the latter might have thought it ad- 
visable to discountenance the attachment. The young poet 
seems also at this period to have been reconciled to his pa- 
Ivor is numbered among the ancestors of the family of Tredegar, which, 
for its honourable antiquity, may vie with any in Wales. 



214 

rents, between whose house and Maesaleg his time was di- 
vided. 

During this his second residence with Ivor, Davydd ab 
Gwilym must in all likelihood have devoted much atten- 
tion to the cultivation of his favourite pursuit, since we find 
him, about this period, elected to fill the post of chief bard 
of Glamorgan, which was then somewhat more than a mere 
nominal honour. His poetical reputation made him also a 
welcome, and, in some respects, a necessary guest at the 
festivals, which in those long-departed days of social cheer 
and princely hospitality, were common in the houses of the 
first orders in Wales. The mansions of Ivor Hael and 
Llywelyn ab Gwilym were the frequent scenes of these 
festive assemblies, at which particular respect was shewn to 
the sons of the awen ; and here it was that Davydd ab 
Gwilym seems to have had the first opportunity of signaliz- 
ing himself amongst his bardic compeers, in those poetical 
contests, formerly so frequent in Wales, and which are not 
even now wholly disused. It was at Emlyn, the seat of his 
uncle Llywelyn, that, on one of these occasions, the deep- 
rooted enmity, which existed between him and a brother 
bard, named Rhys Meigan, had its origin, and which be- 
came the fertile source of the most satirical and even viru- 
lent strains on both sides. The laurel in this " war of 
words" was, however, finally adjudged to the subject of 
this memoir, whose antagonist is even reported to have fal- 
len dead on the spot, a victim to the unendurable poignancy 
of our poet's satire. Strange and incredible as this inci- 
dent may appear, it is, in a great measure, confirmed by 
one of Davydd ab GwilymV effusions, in which he alludes, 
with some minuteness, to the extraordinary occurrence*. 



* See <f Davydd ab Gwilym's Poems," No. 125, at the conclusion, and 
also the poem immediately preceding it, by Grnffydd Grug. 



215 

Among the particulars of our poet's life, that are tradi- 
tionally known, or are to be collected from his productions, 
the most remarkable are those that relate to his attachment 
to the fair sex, with whom his personal qualifications, united 
perhaps with the charms of his Muse, seem to have made 
him an early favourite. And his temper, full of ardour and 
levity as it was, naturally disposed him to turn the circum- 
stance to every advantage. It cannot, therefore, be consi- 
dered surprising, that he should have been involved in 
many adventures of gallantry. Tradition has preserved the 
memory of one, which, if authentic, proves, at once, the 
extent of his amours, and the extravagance of his conduct 
in this respect. The following is a brief detail of this ludi- 
crous incident. 

In the number of his mistresses the taste of Davydd ab 
Gwilym appears to have been quite oriental ; as he reck- 
oned no less than four and twenty at one time. Having an 
inclination, on a particular occasion, to divert himself at 
their expense, he made an assignation with each, unknown 
to the rest, to meet him under a certain tree, at a specified 
liour, having appointed the same time for all. Our poet 
himself took care to be on the spot before the period of 
meeting, and, having ascended the tree, he had the satis- 
faction of finding, that not one of his faithful inamoratas 
failed in her engagement. When they were all assembled, 
feelings of inquisitive wonder took place of the gentler emo- 
tions, to which, it is probable, they had before yielded; 
and, when at length the stratagem, of which they had been 
the dupes, became known, the only sentiment, that inspired 
the group, was that of indignant vengeance against the un- 
fortunate bard, and which they failed not to vent in re- 
proaches " long and loud." The author of the plot, who, 
from his ambuscade above, had perceived the gathering 



216 

storm, had recourse to his muse for an expedient to allay it, 
or, at least, to divert its fury from the object to which it 
was at first directed. Emerging partially from the foliage, 
in which he had been enveloped, he replied to the menaces 
of the disappointed fair-ones, which even extended to his 
life, in an extemporary stanza, of which the following tran- 
slation will convey some idea, though unequal to the force 
of the original : 

Among you all, the kindest jade, 
Who oft'nest meets me in this shade 
On summer's morn, to love inclin'd, 
Let her strike first, and I'm resign'd*. 

The effect was such as our poet had, perhaps, antici- 
pated. Taunts and recriminations were bandied about by 
the exasperated assembly, who forgot their common resent- 
ment against the bard in this new cause for commotion. 
The apple of discord had been thrown amongst them; and 
the spot, so lately dedicated to the queen of love, became 
suddenly the theatre of an implacable war. The tradition 
adds, that the contriver of the stratagem had the good for- 
tune to escape unmolested in the confusion of the conflict, 
being thus indebted to his muse for his protection from a 
catastrophe of no very agreeable nature. 

But, whatever may have been the general failings of Da- 
vydd ab Gwilym in his commerce with the softer sex, he 
appears, in two instances, to have entertained a sincere and 
honourable passion, the objects of which, under the names 
of Dyddgu and Morvudd, he has celebrated in some of his 



* The following are the original lines : 

Y butain wen vain vwynav— o honoch, 

I honno maddeuav 7 
Tan vrig pren, a heulwen hav 
Teg anterth, t'rawed gyntav. 



217 

choicest effusions. But in both cases the result was unpro- 
pitious, though in different ways, to the hopes he had in- 
dulged. 

The fair one first named, who is represented by the bard 
as endowed with the loveliest graces both of body and 
mind, seems to have proved herself inaccessible to ail the 
overtures of his heart, enforced as they were by all the 
fascinations of his muse*. However gratified she may have 
been by the offerings of the bard, she appears to have paid 
no attention to the adorations of the lover. 

Morvudd, our poet's other favourite, received his ad- 
dresses more graciously ; and, had it not been for some un- 
toward circumstances over which she had no control, the 
event of this attachment might have equalled his happiest 
anticipations. Morvudd was the daughter of Madog Law- 
gam, a gentleman of Anglesey, and was, in every point of 
view, the very Laura of our Cambrian Petrarch. An affec- 
tion at once warm and sincere seems to have existed be- 
tween them ; and, having failed, it may be surmised, to ob- 
tain the consent of her friends to their marriage, they were 
united clandestinely, and by a ceremony, somewhat irregu- 
lar, it must be admitted, even for the laxity of that age. In 
the silence of a grove, accompanied only by one of our 
poet's friends, who usurped on the occasion the functions of 
a priest, the fond couple were made one, and continued, for 
some time, to live together as man and wife on the strength 
of this unionf. 

* The poems to Dyddgu, now extant, are seven in number, from No. 14 
to 20 inclusive. 

f This event is related by the bard himself in a poem, entitled " The 
Cuckoo's Tale," No. 70, in the following passage : in allusion to Morvudd, 
he says — 

" E'm rhoddes liw tes lw teg, 
Ni chawn gau unverch chwane<g, 

Llw 



218 

At length, however, the fair Morvudd was reluctantly 
torn from her enamoured swain by her parents, who be- 
stowed her hand, where they could not command her heart, 
in a more formal and binding manner, on one Cynvrig 
Cynin, an aged dotard, whose wealth was his only recom- 
mendation. Her lover's affliction on this event, and his in- 
extinguishable passion, appear from several of the poems, 
which he has dedicated to his Morvudd, and which abound 
also in strokes of caustic ridicule against her decrepid 
spouse, whom he commemorates under the humiliating ap- 
pellation of Bwa Bach, or the Little Hunchback. But 
Davydd ab Gwilym was not satisfied with such revenge only 
as his muse could inflict : he employed every expedient he 
could devise to procure an interview with the object of his 
attachment, and at length succeeded in carrying her away 
from her husband. The lovers, however, were, after some 
search, overtaken ; and a heavy fine was the reward of our 
bard's dexterity. Being unable to pay this, he was cast 
into prison, where he might have ended his days, but for the 
generosity of some of his countrymen in Glamorganshire, 
who, by relieving him from the penalty, gave a convincing 
proof of the general esteem in which he was held. Nor did 
the poet himself ever forget the debt of gratitude he owed, 
on this account, to his liberal benefactors. He frequently 
takes occasion to advert to the benevolent deed ; and two 
of his poems are expressly devoted to its commemoration*. 

Among the bardic cotemporaries of Davydd ab Gwilym, 



Llw a chred, myn y bedydd, 
I mi dan gangh£ni gwydd, 
A rhwymaw Haw yn y llwyn. 
Yn ddiddig, a'i bardd addwyn. 
Myn Mair ! a bu'n ofeiriad 
Madog Benvras, mydrwas mad." 
* See his " Poems," No. 93? and the " Appendix," No. 11. 



219 

with whom he had formed any particular intimacy, was GrufF- 
ydd Grug, a native of Anglesey, distinguished as a fa- 
voured votary of the muse. A sort of amicable rivalry took 
place between the two poets, which gave birth to many spi- 
rited effusions on each side, and some of which have sur- 
vived to the present day*. At length the contention as- 
sumed a more hostile character, and might have terminated 
in the total extinction of their friendship, had not such an 
event been averted by the ingenious stratagem of a mutual 
friend, who managed to convey to each of the rival bards a 
report of his opponent's death, which had the anticipated 
effect of extracting from both the expression of their deep 
regret, as well as an interchange of elegiac effusions, 
adapted to the supposed mournful occasion in all the ful- 
ness of unaffected and genuine grief. The subsequent de- 
tection of this venial fraud, and the reciprocal sentiments it 
had been the means of disclosing, occasioned a reconcilia- 
tion between the contending poets, and even a renewal of 
their original friendship with a sincerity, that secured its con- 
tinuance during the rest of their lives. 

Of the latter years of our bard's existence we have only 
a general account, which states, that they were consumed 
in his native parish of Llanbadarn, where also had been his 
paternal home. His parents, however, were now no more ; 
and he had likewise experienced the misery of surviving all 
the rest of his nearest friends, among whqm were to be 
numbered his two generous patrons, and his fair Morvudd. 
His maternal uncle, Llywelyn, he lost while yet young by 
the act of an assassin, and his muse was taught to bewail 
him with an affectionate sorrow. One of his poems on this 
occasion (for it may reasonably be inferred, from the prolific 

* These are twenty-nine in number, and are preserved among the poems 
of Davydd ab Gwilym. 



220 

nature of his muse, that he wrote more than one) is still ex- 
tant*, and bears ample testimony to the grateful tenderness 
of his feelings. Ivor Hael and his family, to whom, while 
living, his poetical talent had ever been devoted, were now 
remembered, in their death, in some of his most plaintive 
strains, which, with respect to Ivor himself, expressed with 
fidelity the language of the heart. In one of his poems, in 
particular, in which he invokes the Summer to visit Glamor- 
gan with her fairest smiles, he suddenly remembers that 
Ivor lies buried there, and, abruptly abandoning his original 
theme, makes an affecting transition to the grave of his pa- 
tron. The following lines will convey some idea of the 
pathos of the original : — 

From dewy lawns I'll pluck the rose, 
With every fragrant flow'r that blows ; 
The earliest promise of the spring 
To Ivor's honour'd grave I'll bring. 
This humble rite shall oft be paid, 
To deck the spot where he is laid, 
To shew how much for him I mourn, 
How much I weep o'er Ivor's urnf. 

But it was Morvudd, the ill-fated, the never forgotten 
Morvudd, at whose shrine the offerings of his muse were 
made with the greatest frequency and the most fervent de- 
votion. One hundred and nine of his poems, and those 
generally of greater length than what were dedicated by Pe- 
trarch to his Laura, are still preserved ; and we know, upon 
the bard's own authority, that he composed at least thirty- 
eight more on this favourite and inexhaustible theme. None 



* No. 232 of the " Poems." 

f This translation, which is borrowed from the " Life of Davydd ab 
Gwilym," prefixed to his works, is highly creditable to the elegant taste of 
the writer. The original lines may be seen at the close of No. 14 of the 
li Appendix. 9 



221 

of his effusions, however, on her death are now extant, 
though it is probable that, in the pensive tranquillity of his 
declining age, he must have devoted some tributary strains 
to this mournful subject. A transient allusion is all that 
remains. It occurs in the * Bard's last song", and has been 
thus happily rendered into English : — 

Ivor is gone, my friend most dear ; 
And Nest*, sweet soother of my care ; 
Morvndd, my soul's delight is fled : 
All moulder in their clay-cold bed ! 
And I, oppressed with woe, remain, 
Victim to age and lingering painf . 

So constant was Davydd ab Gwilym's attachment to his 
muse, that we find him invoking her even in his last mo- 
ments. On the awful bed of death he seems to have sought 
in her voice the consolation of that Hope, whose home is 
in heaven. One of his effusions, perhaps the only one, on 
this impressive occasion remains. It is entitled, " The 
Death-bed Lay of the Bard", and may, perhaps, more 
justly be regarded as his " last song", than the one of that 
designation above quoted. It is full of remorse and peni- 
tence for his past life, accompanied by a strain of genuine 
piety, as may be collected from the following version, how- 
ever unequal, in poetical merit, to the original : — 

My shapeless sin with dread I view, 
And tremble at the reck'ning due ; 
I dread my folly's long career, 
But, more than all, my God I fear. 

Mysterious Being, prone to save, 
Thy pardon for the past I crave ; 
The time arrives, death's awful time, 
And with it come the stings of crime. 



* The wife of Ivor Hael. 

t See No. 16 of the li Appendix"; this translation is also extracted from 
the ' Life ' of the poet already alluded to. 



222 

God is the world the pious know: 
Without Him all were waste below, 
Without Him 'twere a desert state, 
One cheerless void, all desolate. 

O Thou ! to whom true faith is dear, 
Grant, as my parting hour draws near, 
Grant, as I heave my latest sigh, 
No foe may watch in triumph nigh*. 

The thought, expressed in the last stanza, might imply, 
that, although our poet had outlived his friends, he had 
not survived his enemies. It is probable, indeed, that his 
propensity to satire had been the means of provoking the 
enmity of many of his cotemporaries, and especially among 
the clergy, against whom the invectives of his muse appear 
to have been often directed^. But in a poem, entitled 
" The Bard's Confession of his SinsJ", he acknowledges 
the culpability of his conduct in this instance as well as in 
several others ; and we may infer, that the poem in question 
was composed during the latter part of his life, when old 
age had communicated a suitable seriousness to his medi- 
tations. 

We have now arrived at the close of our bard's earthly 
career ; and we may say of him, as of the swan, that he ter- 
minated his life with a song. But, unlike the swan, his 
tuneful talent was not confined to the hour of dissolution. 
On the contrary, 

servatur ad imuro, 

Qualis ab inccepto processerat, et sibi constat. 

His death is reported to have taken place about the year 
1400, in Anglesey, according to some authorities, but, ac- 
cording to others of a more credible character, at his home 

* No. 246 of the «* Poems". 

t See the " Poems", No. 64, 149, 154, 217, 224. 

f No. 245 of the " Poems". 



223 

in Llanbadarn. His ashes repose at Ystrad Flur, in the 
county of Cardigan ; and his tomb has not wanted the con- 
genial tribute of the muse. Some kindred spirit has re- 
corded on it his friendship for the poet, and his regret for 
his loss, in an epitaph, of which the translation that follows 
will afford an imperfect idea : — 

Gwilym, bless'd by all the nine, 
Sleep'st thou, then, beneath this tree ; 

'Neath this yew, whose foliage fine 
Shades alike thy song and thee? 

Mantling yew-tree, he lies near, 

Gwilym, Teivi's nightingale*, 
And his song too slumbers here, 

Tuneless ever through the vale. 

But the commemoration of his fame has not been con- 
fined to an anonymous herald. Three of our poet's bardic 
cotemporaries have left elegies on his death, which bespeak 
at once the high estimation in which the writers regarded 
his talents, and their respect for his private worthf. The 
spirit of rivalry, which may naturally be imagined to have 

* In the original " Eos Teivi ;" Eos Dyved, however, or the Dimetian 
Nightingale, was the designation by which our bard was frequently known. 
The following is the epitaph, of which a translation is here given: — 

u Davydd, gwiw awenydd gwrdd, 
Ai yma'th roed dan goed gwyrdd ? 
Dan laspren hoyw ywen hardd, 
Lie 'i claddwyd, y cuddiwyd cerdd. 

" Glas dew ywen, glan Eos— -Deivi, 
Mae Davydd yn agos ! 
Yn y pridd mae'r gerdd ddiddos ; 
Diddawn in' bob dydd a nos ! 

t The poets, here alluded to, were Iolo Goch, Madog Benvras, and 
Gruffydd Grug. 



224 

existed during the life of the bard, was at once quelled ; or 
it only lived to heap on his tomb its gratuitous trophies. 

The character of Davydd ab Gwilym has been variously 
represented, — some memorials ascribing to him a purity of 
manners and a correctness of conduct, which, to judge from 
his writings, he did not always evince. It may not be fair, 
however, in all cases, to condemn the man on account of 
the failings of the poet ; and Davydd ab Gwilym's life may 
have exemplified the injustice of such an act. What he 
wrote in the warmth or thoughtlessness of his poetical in- 
spirations may have been condemned by the gravity of his 
more sober reflections. Yet it must after all be admitted, 
that this is but an hypothesis, which it is now, perhaps, too 
late to establish or refute. One thing may with certainty 
be affirmed, that, whatever be the complexion of the ma- 
jority of Davydd ab Gwilym's surviving effusions, there are 
not wanting, in others, the most satisfactory evidence of a 
sound moral and religious feeling, highly creditable to the 
memory of the author. 

Of the merit of our poet's productions it is almost super- 
fluous to speak : the meed of praise, awarded by his cotem- 
poraries, has received the sanction of four centuries, and 
Davydd ab Gwilym is still regarded as one of the most 
eminent of the Welsh bards, whether we estimate him by 
the originality of his genius, or the harmonious character 
of his versification. Nor should it be forgotten, that he 
wrote at a period when the laws of Welsh poetry were in a 
state of considerable fluctuation, exposed to the various 
caprices of writers, who, having abandoned the rich and 
full-flowing melody of the old metres, were severally anxious 
to substitute in their stead their own crude inventions. 
Davydd ab Gwilym was among the very few, that rose su- 
perior to the prejudices and disadvantages of the age ; and 



225 

he had the peculiar felicity of establishing a style of versifi- 
cation, which has become a model to all succeeding bards. 
He is likewise supposed to have introduced the Cywydd, a 
species of composition, that has since his time been con- 
stantly adopted in Wales. 

Independent of the general merit of the subject of this 
memoir as a votary of the muse, there is one characteristic 
of his poetry worthy of particular notice, and the more so, 
as belonging, in an essential manner, to the genius of the 
Welsh tongue, and the singular structure of Welsh versei 
This is the remarkable felicity, with which he generally 
adapts the diction to the immediate subject. Pre-eminent 
as the advantages are, which his materials afforded in this 
respect, he has availed himself of them with an effect hardly 
conceivable, and not to be adequately explained to one un- 
acquainted with the Welsh language. Thus, nothing can 
exceed, in harmonious sweetness, some of his love-poems ; 
while in instances of another nature, as in his description of 
a thunder storm, the sound is accommodated to the sense 
with an appalling fidelity*. No examples in other poets, 

* This description may be seen in No. 44. The following version of apart 
of it is extracted from the " Lyric Poems" of Mr. E. Williams, vol.ii. p. 21. 
It may be proper to premise, however, that the English language seems in- 
capable of representing this peculiarity of the Welsh j and an objection may 
also be made to the metre selected by the translator. It wants the sonorous 
and dignified character of the original. The lines are these:-— 
"Thou fierce fiery dragon, thus roaring aloud, 
With rumble tremendous aloft iu the cloud, 
Like a bull iu wild anger assailing the rocks, 
And striking proud mountains with terrible shocks ; 
At thy trump's mighty clangor mad elements jar, 
And, full of thy furies, quick rush to the war ; 
Thy wild hissing flames with huge waters contend, 
And Morvudd, alas! thinks the world at an end." 
Another instauce of this pictorial poetry, if the expression may be allowed, 

Q 



226 

ancient or modern, are, in any degree, to be compared 
with these. 

But it is not merely in the mechanism of his poetry that 
Davydd ab Gwilym excels. His effusions are often preg- 
nant with deep thought, bold figurative inventions*, and 
with those delicate touches of sentiment, that peculiarly 
mark the gifted mind, and can only be duly appreciated 
where they are thoroughly felt. But the predominant at- 
tribute of bis muse, and that in which the poet himself 
seems most to have delighted, is tenderness. Of more than 
two hundred and sixty poems, that he has left us, above 
half are devoted to love, or the celebration of the fair sex. 
Yet, as he always wrote under the influence of existing cir- 
cumstances, and made the events of his life the themes of 
his muse, this peculiarity cannot be considered surprising. 
It, however, was the means of exercising his genius on a 
subject, to which it seems to have been pre-eminently 
adapted. But, whatever excellence belongs to the effusions 

occurs in No. 54, where a fog is described in language singularly appro- 
priate to the occasion. 

* One characteristic of this description, remarkably indicative of his in- 
ventive powers, deserves to be more particularly noticed ; and this is the fe- 
licity, with which he frequently makes the various objects of nature, whether 
living or inanimate, auxiliary to the fictions of his muse. Instead of adopt- 
ing the poetical machinery of other nations, his " imagination bodies forth" 
a new species of beings, before unknown as the agents of poetry. Thus, in 
one instance, (see No. 69 of his " Poems,") the wind is invested with the at- 
tributes of a messenger between him and his beloved Morvudd, as being 
the only one likely to elude the vigilance of his enemies; and the sun and 
even the summer are, on other occasions, personified as the bearers of his 
gratitude to his countrymen in Glamorganshire. (See No. 93, and 11 in the 
Appendix.) But he seems chiefly to have delighted in the agency of the 
animal creation ; for his amatory poems abound in instances, where birds, 
beasts, and even the tenants of the deep, are employed as the ministers of 
his love. 



227 

of Davydd ab Gwilym, it is such as cannot be represented 
with adequate justice in a translation, so much does it de- 
pend on the niceties of expression, and other verbal auxili- 
aries, peculiar to the language in which he wrote. 

Of our poet's more general accomplishments it is difficult 
to speak with any certainty. His productions supply some 
proofs of his learning, at least of such learning as that age 
was qualified to afford. Allusions to the works of Greece, 
Rome, and modern Italy, occur occasionally in his poems, 
and in some instances, where his knowledge could not have 
been derived through the medium of a translation. With 
the poetry of Petrarch he appears, in particular, to have 
been well acquainted ; and the congeniality of disposition 
discoverable in the two poets, as well as the painful simila- 
rity of their destinies, will naturally account for any prefer- 
ence evinced by the Welsh bard for his Italian prototype. 
With these his classical attainments, as they may be not 
improperly called, he united the national qualification of 
playing upon the harp*, which he seems first to have learnt, 
at an early age, under the tuition of his kinsman, Llywelyn 
ab Gwilym ; and it is to be inferred from one of his poems, 
that he delighted to administer, in this manner, to the gra- 
tification of his female acquaintance. The person of Da- 
vydd ab Gwilym is described as remarkable for its elegance 
and symmetrical beauty ; and he is thought to have been 
not insensible to the means of displaying it to the greatest 
advantage*!*. In a word, Davydd ab Gwilym appears to 

* This art was, according to the ancient manners of Wales, among the 
necessary accomplishments of a gentleman, whence, in the Welsh laws, a 
harp is reckoned as one of his requisites. 

f His figure is represented as tall and slender, and his flaxen hair as 
flowing in ringlets over his shoulders j and such, he tells us, were its attrac- 
tions, that, when he was at church, the young females, instead of attending 

Q 2 



228 

have possessed, in a favoured degree, the graces both of 
person and mind; and, allied, as these were, to poetical 
talents of the highest order, they contributed to render 
him one of the most remarkable characters of his country 
during the age in which he lived, and which, without any 
exaggerated eulogy, he may be said to have adorned. 



to their devotion, were in the habit of whispering to one another, that he 
wore his sister's hair.— -See No. 186 of his u Poems". 



229 



OWAIN GLYNDWR. 

The annals of insurrection are not those, to which we should 
generally be disposed to look for materials of the most gra- 
tifying interest. There is something in the events, with 
which they are pregnant, so much at variance with the 
" noiseless tenour" of ordinary life, that the common sym- 
pathies of our nature can be but rarely excited by them, — to 
say nothing of the enormities, to which all political convul- 
sions necessarily give birth. But, whatever be the general 
feeling in this respect, it certainly has its exceptions, and 
those, too, in cases where the means have not been sancti- 
fied by the event. Treason is generally allowed to lose, in 
its triumph, its original odium, and to assume, instead, a 
more amiable or a more dignified character *. The adven- 
turer has hazarded his fate on the die; and he is consigned 
to infamy or honour, as he ascends a scaffold or a throne. 

Yet this rule, as already intimated, is not unexceptiona- 
ble. It has not always happened, that the misfortunes of 
the traitor have been followed by a reprobation of his deeds. 
Some splendid exceptions might be adduced, and, among 
these, the well-known instances of Russell and Sydney. 
Whatever may have been the errors of their principles, or 
the fallacy of their judgment, we willingly concede to them 

* Hence the well-known English epigram : — 

Treason doth never prosper: what's the reason? 
Why, when it prospers, none dare call it treason. 



230 

the merit of having conscientiously endeavoured to esta- 
blish the liberty they professed to venerate. They fell mar- 
tyrs in its cause ; and time, which hurries to oblivion the 
acrimonies of political dissensions, has consecrated their 
names in the poet's strains, and in the eulogies of the 
orator. 

Somewhat similar to these examples is that of Owain 
Glyndwr. His career, indeed, was not terminated by the 
axe of the executioner ; but his aim was of a similar na- 
ture ; and in his efforts to accomplish it he was alike unsuc- 
cessful. He sought, like Sydney or Russell, the freedom 
of his native soil ; but the circumstances under which he 
acted, and the pretensions to which he laid claim, if they 
have not communicated an equal lustre to his enterprise, 
have rendered it undoubtedly less exceptionable. It was 
perhaps treason ; but it was treason of so peculiar a cha- 
racter, that whatever obloquy may have been originally at- 
tached to it, has long since given place to a respect for the 
patriotism of its author, and a commiseration of his fate. 
On this account, Owain Glyndwr has ever been numbered 
among the most remarkable characters in the biographical 
annals of Wales *. 



* It may be proper here to premise, that the ensuing memoir is indebted, 
for its materials, in a great degree, but by no means entirely, to the " Me- 
moirs of Owain Glyndwr," by the Rev. Thomas Thomas, published about 
two years ago. This work is deserving of much praise as an industrious 
compilation ; and the author seems to disclaim any other merit. It is more 
remarkable for its redundancies than its defects, though even these are oc- 
casionally obvious. However, it must be admitted, that such a hody of par- 
ticulars, relating to the life of our distinguished countryman, was never be- 
fore brought under one view, though mixed up with much matter of an ex- 
traneous and irrelevant nature. It may here be mentioned, that, in the 
year 1775, a work, of the same title as the one alluded to in this note, was 
published by a namesake also of the present author (Rev- J. Thomas), from 



231 

The subject of the present memoir is known to English 
readers by the name of Owen Glendower *, an appellation 
which owes its origin to that adopted in this article. By 
his countrymen he seems to have been formerly called 
Owain Glyndyvrdwy, agreeably with a national usage, by 
which individuals were often designated from their estates 
or places of residence + ; and hence is derived the contract- 
ed name of Glyndwr. It is likely, however, that he was 
also known to his cotemporaries by the appellation of Owain 
ab Gruffydd : at least, it appears, that such was the name 
by which he was accustomed to designate himself J. His 
father, Gruffydd Vychan, was tenth, in lineal descent, from 
Bleddyn ab Cynvyn, Prince of Powys, head of one of the 
five royal tribes of Wales, and reckoned among his ances- 
tors, in the female line, the founders of two other tribes, Rhys 
ab Tewdwr and Gruffydd ab Cynan§. Thus nobly de- 



a MS. written by the Rev. Thomas Ellis, formerly Rector of Dolgellau, in 
Merionethshire. I have not been able to meet with a copy of this work; 
and it does not appear, that the author of the " Memoirs" was more fortu- 
nate, or that he was even aware of its existence. 

* This name, like most Welsh names, has been sadly distorted by English 
writers, who have spelt it, indifferently, Glendour, Glendore, Glendower, 
Glyndowr, and Glyndourdy. The English in this respect, it may be re- 
marked, have assumed a privilege of taking the same liberty with Welsh ap- 
pellations, that the French have proverbially used with theirs. 

t Such were formerly the names of Owain Gwynedd, Owain Cyveiliog, 
and others ; and the families of Hanmer and Mostyn, and some more that 
might be specified, are instances of the partial remains of the practice even 
to the present day. The same custom also prevailed among the Britons of 
Cornwall, as is evident in the names of Trelawney, Tremayne, Tressilian, 
and many others, still common in that country. 

t This will be shewn by a curious original document, noticed in the se- 
quel, and hitherto, I believe, unpublished. 

§ The following genealogical scheme will shew the three royal tribes, 
above mentioned, centering in Owain Glyndwr : 



232 



scended on the paternal side, Owain Glyndwr claimed an 
alliance not less honourable on the part of his mother, who, 
according to some authorities, was in a direct line fromLlyw- 
elyn, last Prince of Wales *. 



Bleddyn ab Cynvyn. Rhys ab Tewdwr. 



I 
Meredydd 

Madog 

Gruffydd Maelor 



Gruffydd 
Arglwydd Rhys 

Rhys Gryg 
Rhys Mechell 



Gruffydd ab Cynan. 
Owain Gwynedd 

Iorwerth Drwyndwn 

I 
Uywelyn ab Iorwerth 

Gruffydd ab Llywelyn 



Madog 

I r- 

Gruffydd Dinas Bran Rhys Vychan=f=Gwladus 

Gruffydd Vychaii 

I r- 

Madog Glof=pMargaret. 

f 
Madog Vychan 

Gtuffydd o'r Rhuddallt 

Gruffydd Vychan 

Owain Glyndwr. 
Some valuable observations on the pedigree of Owain Glyndwr, and 
especially on his descent from Bleddyn ab Cynvyn, by the Rev. Walter 
Davies, of Manavon, may be seen in the Cambro-Britotiy vol. i. pp. 421, 
&c. 455, &c. 

* His mother's name was Helen, the daughter of Thomas ab Llywelyn, 
who married Elinor Goch, grand-daughter of Llywelyn, last Prince of 
Wales. There is some uncertainty, however, as to the mother of Elinor, 
who, according to some, was Catharine, daughter of Llywelyn, and the wife 
of Philip ab Ivor, of Iscoed. But this must have been a natural child of 
the Welsh prince, as the only issue of his marriage with Eleanor de Mont- 
ford appear* to have been one daughter, Gwenllian, who took the veil in an 
English convent, with her cousin, a daughter of David. See p. 196, supra* 
It must have been, therefore, in the illegitimate line, that Owain Glyndwr 
traced his pedigree from the last Llywelyn ; yet Llywelyn, himself, whose 
father was a natural child of Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, is an instance, that ille- 
gitimacy was, in Wales, no bar to the succession. Warrington, in bis His- 
tory, states Catherine, above named, to have been married to Malcolm, Earl 



233 

The statement of these genealogical pretensions may ap- 
pear ostentatious to those, who are ignorant of the ancient 
customs of Wales in this respect, or who are not aware of 
its particular application to the instance before us. It 
seems unnecessary, however, to pause here for the purpose 
of defending a practice, which has been the object of ridi- 
cule only where it has not been the subject of a candid in- 
vestigation. 

The birth-place of Owain Glyndwr is a matter of uncer- 
tainty ; but it is probable, that it was either Glyndyvrdwy, 
in Merionethshire, or Sycharth, in the county of Denbigh *. 
Owain Glyndwr himself resided occasionally at each of 
these places ; it is therefore reasonable to conclude, that 
they were, in their turns, the abode of his parents. But, 
whatever soil had the honour of his birth, the event took 
place, according to the most credible authorities, on the 
28th of May, 1354f; and, if we might lend an ear to the 
tales of superstition, it was not unaccompanied by those 
phenomena, which have been supposed to mark the nati- 
vity of illustrious men. It is safer, however, to ascribe 
these preternatural prognostics to the ignorance of the age 
or the credulous adulation of his admirers J. 

of Fife. There is, however, more probability in the account generally re- 
ceived. 

* Mr. Thomas, in a note on his w Memoirs," p. 48, fixes the birth-place 
of Glyndwr at Trevgarn, in Pembrokeshire, on the authority of a " MS. be- 
longing to the late Mr. Pugh, of Ty Gwyn, Denbighshire." Trevgarn, it 
seems, was the residence of Glyndwr's maternal grandfather ; and it is not 
improbable, that his mother occasionally lived there. But the question re- 
specting Glyndwr's birth is still subjudice. 

f Some accounts state the year to be 1349, and in the Great, p. 31, it is 
1348. If, however, as stated, he was 61 at his death, in 1415, the year adopt- 
ed in the text must be correct. 

X Hollinshed, with a view to this point, gravely relates, that " strange won- 



234 

As Owain Glyndwr's father was a person not only of 
rank, but of considerable property, it is natural to imagine, 
that he gave his son an education suitably liberal. Where 
he acquired his rudimental instruction, however, we are 
not informed ; but his education was completed in one of 
the Inns of Court, where he entered as a student of the 
English laws. He was afterwards called to the bar, though 
it is probable he never practised much in his profession. 
His forensic views seem soon to have given place to the 
more powerful attractions of a military life, which both his 
particular disposition, and the political events of the age, 
conspired to favour. Much of his early years, therefore, it 
is likely, was devoted to the profession of arms ; and he 
appears in this capacity to have ingratiated himself, in a re- 
markable manner, with Richard II., whom he accompanied, 
as his body-squire *, in his wars in France and Ireland, as 
well as in the domestic contests between the Houses of 
York and Lancaster, which had their origin at this period. 
It was the lot of Glyndwr to be engaged as an active parti- 
san in the cause of Richard, who, as appears by a document 
still extant, rewarded his fidelity by conferring on him the 

ders happened at the nativity of this man; for the same night, that he was 
born, all his father's horses in the stable were found to stand in blood up to 
their bellies." This was, no doubt, meant to prefigure the sanguinary ca- 
reer of the infant hero. Sbakespear has also embodied some of the popular 
superstitious, connected with this event, in the following well known pas- 
sage :— 

■ — " At my birth 

The front of heaven was full of fiery shapes; 

The goats ran from the mountains, and the herds 

Were strangely clamorous in the frighted fields. 

These signs have mark'd me extraordinary, 

And all the courses of my life do shew, 

I am not in the roll of common men." 
* Scutiger, or shield-bearer, is the name given to the office he filled. 



235 

honour of knighthood *. The zeal he thus manifested he 
retained to the last; for, when the unfortunate monarch 
was a prisoner in the castle of Flint, Glyndwr was found 
among the number of his few faithful adherents. He pro- 
cured his release by exchange. 

Upon the deposition of Richard, in the year 1399, and 
the consequent accession of Henry IV., Owain Glyndwr, at 
this time about forty-five years of age, retired to his patri- 
monial estate, lamenting the fallen fortunes of his late mas- 
ter, and having, as may be concluded, no favours to expect 
from his successor. During this season of relaxation from 
the feverish turmoils of public life, he seems to have dedi- 
cated himself to the offices of hospitality, and the encou- 
ragement of the national minstrelsy; for on both these 
points the surviving productions of contemporary bards are 
loud in his praise f. His mansion was open to all that chose 

* The document, alluded to, is mentioned in Collins's Peerage, vol. vii. 
p. 507. It is a record of the proceedings in the celebrated cause, between 
Sir Richard le Scrope and Sir Robert le Grosvenour, concerniug some 
armorial bearings. Glyndwr is described, among the witnesses, by the title 
of Sir Owen de Glendore. His brother is also named there as Tudor de 
Glendore. This cause began in 1386. So, it is probable, Glyndwr re- 
ceived the equestrian honour in the early part of his military career; but it 
does not appear, that he ever adopted it after his retirement to Wales, or 
that it was recognized by his countrymen. 

t Among these the most conspicuous was Iolo Gocb, who lived with Glyn- 
dwr as his domestic bard, and has left many poems in praise of his patron. 
One in particular, entitled " The Invitation Poem," describes his hospitality 
as unbounded, and especially towards the bards, who were entertained in 
such numbers atSycharth, one of his seats, that Iolo calls it, on one occasion, 
" the congregating-place of the bards," Sycharth buarth y beirdd. It appears 
from the same poem, that Glyndwr kept a literally open house, having nei- 
ther bolts nor locks to his doors ; and that the office of porter was, conse- 
quently, unnecessary. The following lines of the " Invitation Poem" allude 
to what has just been mentioned : 

" Anhawdd yn vynych yno 
Weled na chlicied na chlo, 



236 

to resort to it, and was supplied with every convenience for 
the accommodation of his numerous guests, that his libera- 
lity could devise or his means afford *. During a part of 
his former life, it is probable, as well as at present, his time 
was chiefly spent in these social enjoyments, surrounded! 
and beloved by his family, his friends, and dependents. He 
had early been married to a daughter of Sir David Hanmer, 
of Hanmer, in Flintshire, one of the Judges of the King's 
Bench, and a gentleman of distinguished birth and con- 
nexions. With this lady he appears to have lived in great 
felicity ; and a numerous progeny was the fruit of the pro- 
pitious union f. / 

A year had scarcely elapsed after the fall of king Ri- 

Na gwall, na newyn, na gwarth, 
Na syched vyth yn Sycharth." 

If you to Sycharth should repair, 

Nor locks nor bolts will you see there; 

Nor want nor hunger there shall reign, 

Nor e'er of thirst shall you complain. 
* Iolo, in the poem mentioned in the preceding note, gives a particular 
description of his patron's mansion, presumed to be Sycharth, (See Cambro- 
Briton, vol. i. p. 459). He compares it, in general, to Westminster Abbey. 
Among its particular conveniences, he specifies nine halls, each containing 
a wardrobe of clothes for the use of Glyndwr's dependents, or, it might be, of 
4iis guests. In the vicinity of the house were a park stocked with deer, a 
rabbit warren, fish-ponds, a heronry, an orchard, a vineyard, and a mill, for 
the accommodation of his visitors. Of the wine, ale, and other beverage, 
the bard also speaks in high terms; nor does he forget the merits of the culi- 
nary department. And the feeling strains, in which he commemorates these 
epicurean virtues in the Lord of Olyndy vrdwy, prove that he wrote from 
a full experience of their influence. 

t Iolo Goch describes Glyndwr's wife as u honourable, generous, and no- 
ble," and her children he calls "a beautiful nest of chieftains." The number 
of Glyndwr's sons is uncertain. They were probably grown up at the time 
of their father's insurrection, and may have falleu in battle. He had five 
daughters, who will be more particularly noticed in the sequel. 



237 

chard, before this scene of hospitality and repose was ob" 
scured by circumstances, which influenced the future des- 
tiny of Glyndwr, and have communicated to his history 
that particular interest, with which it is regarded even after 
the expiration of four centuries. 

Some years before the period, to which allusion has now 
been made, an altercation had arisen between the subject of 
this memoir and Reginald, Lord Grey de Ruthin, whose 
lands lay contiguous to the hereditary estates of Glyndwr. 
Upon some frivolous pretext, Lord Grey took possession 
of a large tract of uncultivated ground, which had been 
always claimed by Glyndwr, and which the latter now reco- 
vered from its illegal occupier by a suit at law. Lord Grey, 
thus compelled to relinquish the property he had unjustly 
seized, nourished the most vindictive resentment against a 
man, whom, as he had attempted to injure, he was now deter- 
mined to hate. Accordingly, when the dethronement of 
Richard had destroyed the influence of Glyndwr at the 
English court, Grey again took forcible possession of the 
land in question, and retained it in open defiance of the 
right owner, who, in consequence, presented a remonstrance 
to Parliament against this arbitrary transaction; but the 
appeal was treated with a contempt, not only mortifying to 
Glyndwr, but extremely impolitic as it regarded the state 
of public affairs at that time in England. 

Yet the enmity of Lord Grey did not rest here : even the 
triumph he had already obtained was insufficient to satiate 
his revenge. In the year 1400 Henry IV. meditated an 
expedition against Scotland, and, preparatory to this, he 
sent writs of summons, according to the custom of the 
times, to his several feudal barons, and tenants in capite, 
requiring their attendance with their vassals in this military 
enterprise. A writ of this nature was directed to Owain 



238 

Glyndwr, and entrusted to Lord Grey for the purpose of 
being delivered to him. This, however, the vindictive no- 
bleman maliciously neglected to do ; and Glyndwr was not 
apprised of the royal mandate, until it was too late for him 
to comply with it. His non-attendance was immediately 
ascribed by Henry to a spirit of disaffection ; and the con- 
struction was rendered more plausible by some malevolent 
and unfounded representations of Grey. The consequence 
of the whole was, that Glyndwr was pronounced a traitor, 
and his property declared to be confiscated*. 

Wrongs such as these were sufficiently calculated to ex- 
asperate the feelings of any one not wholly insensible to his 
own honour. But upon the temper of Glyndwr they ope- 
rated in a peculiar manner, connected, as they were, with 
the particular circumstances, both private and public, by 
which his fate was beset. He was descended, as we have 
seen, by both parents, from ancestors who had once swayed 
the destinies of his native land : they were the potentates 
and princes of Wales, in the days of her independence ; 
and in Glyndwr appeared now to be centered the only in- 
disputable title to the inheritance of their honours. Little 
more than a century had passed away since the final sub- 
jugation of Wales by Edward; and the spirit of animosity, 
which that event had engendered, might be said to be ra- 
ther suppressed than extinguished. It had not, indeed, 
with one or two trivial exceptions +, burst into an open 



* It has been stated, that Glyndwr's possessions were, on this occasion, 
transferred to Lord Grey, but this does not seem consistent with the grant 
of them, which Henry made, shortly afterwards, to the Earl of Somerset. 

t The most memorable of these was the insurrection of Sir Grnffydd 
Llwyd, a chieftain of Carnarvonshire, about the year 1360. But it was of 
very short duration. After having taken some fortresses in the Marches, he 
was made prisoner, and terminated his career on the scaffold. 



239 

flame ; but this was prevented more by the oppressive do- 
minion of the conquerors, than by any indisposition on the 
part of the conquered. It cannot then be a subject of sur- 
prise, that these feelings should have had a more than com- 
mon effect on the mind of Glyndwr, roused as they were by 
the injuries he had recently sustained. Nor was it the least 
cause of his present exasperation, that these injuries were 
inflicted under the sanction of a sovereign, to whom he had 
been actively opposed, and whose assumption of power he 
could only regard as an usurpation. Such were the com- 
plicated circumstances, that now exercised their combined 
influence over the destiny of the Welsh chieftain, and gave 
a determined impulse to his resolutions and conduct. 

The first act of Glyndwr, resulting from the treatment he 
had experienced, was to repossess himself of the lands of 
which he had been so wantonly deprived ; and, having ac- 
complished this, he proceeded to retort upon Lord Grey 
the consequences of his injustice, by seizing also a consider- 
able portion of that nobleman's hereditary domains. Grey 
was, at this time, at the English court, and, as soon as the 
news of these events arrived there, he was despatched by 
Henry, with Lord Talbot, to inflict summary vengeance 
upon Glyndwr, whom the king unwisely chose to regard as 
acting more from motives of public treason towards him- 
self, than of private hostility against the individual, whose 
oppressive conduct had provoked, if it had not justified, 
these retaliatory proceedings. Such were the secrecy and 
expedition, with which the two noblemen executed the 
king's commands, that they had nearly succeeded in taking 
by surprise the object of their pursuit. His house was al- 
most surrounded before he was aware of their approach, 
and it was only by his superior local knowledge, that he 
found means of escaping to the adjoining woods. 



240 

The die was now now cast : Glyndwr, thus proscribed 
and assailed as a traitor, had no alternative but to support 
the character with firmness and energy. He accordingly" 
made an open avowal of his designs, and, on the 20th Sep- 
tember, 1400, caused himself to be proclaimed Prince of 
Wales. On the same day he profited by a fair held at Ru- 
thin, in Denbighshire, within the territory of Lord Grey, 
to subject the town to the united horrors of pillage and 
conflagration. Many of the inhabitants, as well as of the 
English merchants that attended the fair, were slain in the 
general confusion ; and such, as escaped this fate, had to 
lament the plunder or destruction of their property. After 
this exploit, which may be considered as the first act of 
public hostility on the part of Glyndwr, he retired to the 
neighbouring mountains, for the purpose both of sheltering 
himself from his enemies, and of gaining time to prepare 
for new operations. 

The rumour of this revolt, in the mean time, spread ra- 
pidly through all parts of Wales, and numbers flocked to 
the standard of the insurgent chief: some from a private 
dislike of Lord Grey ; others from a political hostility to- 
wards Henry, whom all the adherents of the late king de- 
nounced as an usurper ; but by far the greatest number from 
a patriotic anxiety to liberate their country from the yoke 
of the English, which the arbitrary conduct of the govern- 
ment, and especially of the Lords Marchers, had rendered 
peculiarly galling. Some ancient bardic predictions, pre- 
served traditionally in the country, had also their share in 
exciting the general enthusiasm on this occasion ; and Glyn- 
dwr was hailed by the people as the " heir of the pro- 
phecy*," who was to realize their fondest illusions, to re- 

* " Mab y Darogan" was the favourite term applied by the bards to their 
hero and patron. 



241 

store the freedom of his country, arid to avenge her misfor- 
tunes. 

As soon as Henry was apprised of these insurrectionary 
movements, he determined to attack the author of them in 
person, and, if possible, to crush, in its infancy, a rebellion^ 
which, he foresaw, might, in his particular situation, assume 
a dangerous character. He accordingly entered North 
Wales with a large force, comprising the feudal levies of 
ten English counties, and proceeded as far as Anglesey; 
marking his course by blood and desolation. But he was 
unable to bring Glyndwr to an engagement. The wily chief- 
tain, following the example of his countrymen on former 
occasions of a similar nature, took refuge among the re- 
cesses of the Snowdon hills, and Henry was compelled to 
retrace his steps without having accomplished any part of 
his enterprise. As if in revenge for the humiliation he had 
thus sustained, he immediately made a grant of all Glyn- 
dwr's forfeited estates to his own brother, the Earl of So- 
merset, — an act which only served, at the moment, to evince 
the impotence of Henry's resentment; whatever was its sub- 
sequent operation*; 

This vindictive measure was speedily followed by one of 
a different nature, by which the king hoped to effect, by 
conciliatory means, what his arms had, as yet, failed to 
achieve. He published a proclamation, offering pardon to 
all the Welsh insurgents, that should make immediate sub* 

* Although, at first, the Earl of Somerset could have derived lid benefit 
from this grant, it is certain that the property came at length to the family, 
who enjoyed it for several years. Upon the attainder and execution of the 
Duke of Somerset, however, in the reign of Edward IV., about the year 
1463, the estates were disposed of by the Crown, and came into the posses- 
sion of different proprietors. Glyndvyrdwy, the principal portion, now be- 
longs to Gruffydd Howell Vaughan, Esq., of Rug. 

R 



242 

mission to his son Henry, at Chester. Such, however, was 
the attachment of the Welsh to their leader, as well as their 
enthusiasm in the cause he had espoused, that the proffered 
boon was universally rejected; and Glyndwr found the 
number of his followers daily increasing with the increasing 
popularity of his enterprise. 

Henry, however, at the instigation of his son, the Prince 
of Wales, then but thirteen years of age, made another at- 
tempt to recal the Welsh to their allegiance. On two se- 
veral occasions, in the year after Glyndwr's insurrection, a 
pardon was offered to all his followers, that should imme- 
diately lay down their arms. From this act of grace the 
Welsh chieftain himself, and a few of his principal adhe- 
rents, as well as all that were, at the time, in the custody of 
the English, were excluded*; they were still to be exposed 
to all the penalties of treason. This effort, like the pre- 
ceding one, proved unsuccessful; and it is to be considered 
honourable to the national character, that the insurgents 
chose to maintain their fidelity even at the risk of their 
lives, rather than purchase their safety by the sacrifice of 
their leader. 

Meanwhile, the force of Glyndwr had been considerably 
augmented, not only by the addition of many inhabitants of 
Wales, within the immediate sphere of his influence, but 
also by the accession of several natives of the Principality, 
who had, for some time, resided in England. He accord- 
ingly found himself at the head of a force, formidable at 
least by its numbers and zeal, if not by its discipline. With 
a small detachment of this army he proceeded towards the 



* The persons of most note, besides Glyndwr himself, who were excepted 
from this pardon, were Rhys ab Tudnr, and William ab Tudar, the latter of 
whom was afterwards taken into favour by Henry, upon abandoning the 
standard of iosurrection. 



243 

mountain of Pumlumon, on the borders of South Wales, 
for the purpose, it may be presumed, of establishingy on 
that advantageous and commanding position, a central ral- 
lying post, to which his friends, from both divisions of the 
Principality, might repair. In his way to Pumlumon, Glyn- 
dwr committed many depredations on the estates of the 
Lords Marchers, through which he passed, and especially 
on the towns of Welshpool and Montgomery, which Were 
either pillaged or burnt. The Abbey of Cwmhir, and the 
Castle of Maelienydd, or Radnor, were also visited with all 
the horrors of fire and sword. An act of barbarity was 
committed at the latter place, in the indiscriminate massacre 
of the whole garrison^ which it seems difficult to justify from 
any information now extant. But, as the fortress was one 
of the strongest frontier posts in the possession of the 
Lords Marchers, it is probable, that it had been the source, 
in a particular degree, of terror and annoyance to the adja- 
cent country *. 

When Glyndwr had reached his mountain position, one 
of his first objects seems to have been to assail such of the 
neighbouring people, as were not well affected towards his 
cause, or had shewn themselves friendly to the interests of 
Henry. Among these, the inhabitants of Cardiganshire, 
had made themselves conspicuous in their attachment to 
the English monarch. Against them, therefore, Glyndwr 
directed his earliest operations, making frequent incursions 
into their country, and committing a variety of the most 
harassing excesses. Goaded, at length, by these repeated 
outrages, they resolved to make a vigorous resistance, and, 



* This Castle belonged to the Mortimer family, and was gallantly de- 
fended by Sir Roger Mortimer, in the time of the last Llywelyn. See page 
186, suprdt. 



244 

if possible, to dislodge their formidable assailant from the 
quarters he So inconveniently occupied in their vicinity; 
and such was the rapidity of their movements, that they 
succeeded in detaching Glyndwr from his main position, 
and in surrounding his force with an army considerably su- 
perior in numbers*. Thus situated, the Welsh chief soon 
perceived that his only chance of escape lay in some des- 
perate effort. He, therefore, addressed his soldiers with a 
fervour excited by the occasion, telling them, that they 
must be prepared either to die of famine, or to cut their 
way through the enemy, from whose clemency, he added, 
there was nothing to anticipate ; and finally he urged them, 
if death was to be their doom, at least to meet it with arms 
in their hands. Upon this, he commanded them to charge 
the enemy and to give no quarter ; and they executed the 
order with such fury and impetuosity, that the Cardigan- 
shire people retreated in the wildest confusion, and Glyn- 
dwr succeeded in rescuing his army from its perilous situ- 
ation, with a considerable loss to the enemy +. 

This gallant exploit, achieved, as it was, against a great 
superiority of force, had the effect not only of exalting the 
popularity of the Welsh chief, and of producing a consider- 
able accession to the number of his followers, but also of 
awakening anew the slumbering apprehensions of Henry, 
who began now, it is probable, to entertain a higher notion 
than before of the valour and skill of his adversary. A se- 
cond time, therefore, he entered the Principality, for the 
purpose of quelling the insurrection ; but the result of this 
expedition was still less propitious than that of the former. 



* The men of Cardiganshire were, on this occasion, about fifteen hun- 
dred, while it is not probable, that the force of Glyndwr exceeded two or 
three hundred. 

t Their loss has been estimated at two hundred slain on the field. 



245 

After having committed the ravages and devastations, cus- 
tomary in the wars of those times, and seduced some of 
Glyndwr's principal partisans, the king was compelled to 
make an inglorious and disastrous retreat. Yet we find 
him soon afterwards meditating a fresh enterprise against 
Glyndwr, for which purpose he collected a large army, 
composed of the military levies of twenty-two counties. But 
the farther particulars are unknown, except that, according 
to one historian *, the event was equally infelicitous as in 
the preceding instances. 

Notwithstanding that Henry had found the means of in- 
troducing a partial spirit of disaffection into the ranks of 
the insurgent chief, the latter found himself, at the com- 
mencement of the year 1402, in a formidable attitude. Par- 
tisans continued to crowd to his standard ; and the smiles of 
hope grew brighter with the increase of his popularity. The 
appearance of a comet, about this period, had also a favour- 
able influence on his fortunes, by the effect which it produced 
on the superstitious minds of his followers ; and the effusions 
of the bards were not wanting to render the phenomenon 
still farther subservient to the interests of their patron +. 
Thus, in an unenlightened age, did this celestial visitor be- 
come an auxiliary, in no unimportant degree, to the cause 
of Glyndwr, which, hitherto unexpectedly prosperous, had, 
as his credulous countrymen were too easily brought to be- 
lieve, at length been sanctioned by a preternatural omen. 

Nor were the events that followed at all calculated to 



* This historian is Carte. 

f Iolo Goch, in particular, in his Poem on the Comet in question, (Cywydd 
y Seren,) somewhat profanely compares it with the star, which presaged the 
birth of our Saviour. But it is not, perhaps, surprising, that the enthusiasm 
of the occasion, conspiring with the superstitious ignorance of the times, 
should have seduced the poet into a comparison, so wild and fanatical. 



248 

also his kinsman. But the circumstances, connected with 
this tragical tale, have been variously told, and there is 
throughout the narrative an air of the romantic, which 
may well justify us in distrusting it. The substance of the 
common tradition is briefly as follows. 

One Hywel Sele, who lived at Nannau, in Merioneth- 
shire, a cousin of Glyndwr, had rendered himself particu- 
larly obnoxious to his relative by the zeal, with which he 
espoused the cause of King Henry ; and the consequence 
was, that an animosity of the most virulent character, 
heightened perhaps by their consanguinity, had been en- 
gendered between them. The abbot of a neighbouring 
monastery, desirous, as the story goes, of producing a re- 
conciliation, contrived that the two cousins should meet. 
Hywel had the reputation of an excellent archer, and, as he 
and Glyndwr were walking in the grounds about Nannau, 
the latter pointed out a deer for the purpose of trying his 
kinsman's dexterity. The bow was immediately bent, and 
the arrow discharged, but not at the proposed object. Hyw- 
el had traitorously turned it against the breast of Glyndwr, 
which it struck with an unerring aim ; but, as the chief wore 
armour under his clothes, the purpose of the assassin was 
foiled. Hywel was instantly seized by the followers of his 
intended victim, and thrown into the trunk of a hollow 
tree, where he was left to perish, and where his skeleton, 
the tradition adds, was found about forty years afterwards *. 

* According to another version of this narrative, Glyndwr and Hywel ac- 
cidentally met, while the former was enjoying the pleasures of the chase in 
the domains of his cousin. An altercation ensued, and terminated in an ap- 
peal to arms. Hywel fell in the combat, and his lifeless body was thrust into 
the cavity of a tree, a circumstance, which deducts much from the crueity 
of the deed as above related. About forty years afterwards, a friend of 
Glyndwr, who was present during the transaction, revealed it to Hywel's 
surviving family, and his remains were discovered as already described. 



249 

Upon this occasion Glyndwr also burnt the house, and com- 
mitted other devastations on the domains of his treacherous 
relative. 

Soon after the unsuccessful siege of Carnarvon, the ven- 
geance of Glyndwr was directed, in a manner not to be jus- 
tified, against several religious edifices in North Wales. 
The cathedrals of* Bangor and St. Asaph, with the build- 
ings belonging to them, became, among others, the objects 
of his indiscriminate fury, and were levelled with the ground. 
It appears, that these sees had, through a mistaken policy, 
been chiefly filled, since the conquest of Wales, by English 
ecclesiastics, who consequently occupied nearly all the posts 
of honour or profit. The circumstance had been a cause 
of general discontent and complaint throughout the coun- 
try, and may serve to explain, if not to defend, the excesses 
of the Welsh patriot ; but, with respect to the diocese of 
St. Asaph, he had particular reasons for his resentment. 
Bishop Trevor, at that time in the enjoyment of the see, 
had originally professed himself a warm friend of the un- 
fortunate Richard, by whom he had been preferred ; but, 
upon the usurpation of Bolingbroke, he not only ungrate- 
fully deserted his patron, but devoted himself so ardently 
to the interests of Henry as to pronounce sentence of de- 

Until that period it was not known what fate had befallen the unfortunate 
lord of Nannau, such v»as the mysterious secrecy, in which his death was 
involved. The tree, (an oak,) to which this strange tradition belongs, was 
standing, until within a few years, in the Park at Nannau, now the seat of 
Sir R. W. Vaughan, Bart. It fell during the night of the 13th of July, 1813, 
when the weather was remarkably serene and sultry, which seems to prove 
the extreme age to which it must have arrived. It must have existed 
for many centuries ; and the superstitious attributes, with which the cre- 
dulity of the country had invested it, had made it as noted as it was ve- 
nerable. It was known by the n^me of C$ubren yr Ellyll, or the Hobgob- 
lin's Hollow Tree. 



250 

position against his former sovereign, and even to accept 
an embassy to the Spanish court, for the purpose of justify- 
ing the measures of the usurper. Glyndwr, therefore, had 
motives, independent of the general one above noticed, for 
wreaking his vengeance upon St. Asaph ; and it would be 
difficult to admit, that the faithless conduct of Trevor did 
not merit some chastisement, however indefensible the par- 
ticular one here adopted *. 

When these violent outrages on the part of Glyndwr 
were made known to the king, he once more resolved 
to make an endeavour to crush him. He, accordingly, 
planned some formidable arrangements for the occasion; 
but, before he could take the field, or even collect his forces 
together, he received intelligence of an important victory, 
gained by Glyndwr over Sir Edmund Mortimer. The 
Welsh chieftain, after having committed the ravages to 
which allusion has just been made, directed his operations 
against the domains of the Lords Marchers, on the borders 
of South Wales. Among these, the estates of the Earl of 
March, then an infant in the custody of Henry, became, in 



* The conduct of this prelate presents an extraordinary instance of va- 
cillation. For, upon his return from Spain, in 1402, the very year in which 
his cathedral and palace were burnt, he deserted Henry, and, seduced by 
the recent successes of Glyndwr, became a partisan and confederate of that 
chief. This fact appears from a letter of Henry IV. addressed to Edward 
Charlton, Lord Powys, in which is the following passage : " quia, ex relatu 
plurium, intelleximus, quod Owenus de Glendourdy et Johannes, qui se 
pretendit episcopum Assavensem, proditore3 et rebelles nostri," &c. See 
Rymer and Hollinshed. It may be inferred, that, in consequence of this 
tergiversation of Trevor, he was nominally ejected from the diocese of St. 
Asaph by Henry, though it is probable, on the other hand, that Glyndwr 
was sufficiently powerful to secure to him the enjoyment of his episcopal 
revenues until his death, which took place at Paris, in 1410. During the 
last eight years of the bishop's life he seems, therefore, to have continued 
faithful to the cause of Glyndwr. 



251 

particular, a prey to his predatory incursions. Sir Edmund 
Mortimer, uncle to the young Earl, and entrusted with the 
protection of his property, opposed him, at the head of a 
large body of his nephew's dependents, near Knighton, in 
Radnorshire. The contest was extremely obstinate and 
sanguinary; but fortune at length declared in favour of 
Glyndwr, who, in a personal encounter with his adversary, 
dismounted him and took him prisoner. In addition to the 
capture of Sir Edmund Mortimer, the loss of eleven hun- 
dred of his men, chiefly slain on the field of battle, was the 
result of a victory important at once to the interests and 
fame of Glyndwr *. 

The immediate effect of this triumph was to swell the 

* The English historians have charged the Welsh, and particularly the 
Welsh women, with some undefined and nameless atrocities committed on 
the bodies of the English that were slain in this battle. Hollinshed speaks 
of the " shamefull villanie used by the Welshwomen" on this occasion as 
being such as " eares should be ashamed to heare and continent toongs t© 
speake thereof." And Shakespear has adopted the disgraceful accusation 
in the following passage : — 

" When all athwart there came 

A post from Wales, loaden with heavy news, 
Whose worst was that the noble Mortimer, 
Leading the men of Herefordshire to fight 
Against the irregular and wild Glendower, 
Was by the rude hands of that Welshman taken, 
A thousand of his people butchered, 
Upon whose dead corpses there was such misuse, 
Such beastly, shameless, transformation, 
By those Welsh women done, as may not be, 
Without much shame, retold or spoken of." 

Thomas de Walsingham, ' who wrote about forty years after the event, is the 
first propagator of this odious narrative ; but Mr. Pennant has shewn, from 
another old writer, that, whatever truth there may be in it, the disgrace 
must be ascribed to a certain follower of Glyndwr, and not to the chieftain 
himself. 



252 

ranks of insurrection, and to communicate a new conse- 
quence to the character of its leader. Henry, who, from 
political motives, beheld with delight, or, at least, with in- 
difference, the reverses of Mortimer *, could not, however, 
regard, without some apprehension, the continued suc- 
cesses of Glyndwr. He, therefore, renewed, with addi- 
tional ardour, his preparations for attacking this obstinate 
enemy, who now, for more than two years, had set at defi- 
ance both his authority and his power. The Welsh chief, 
in the mean time, was pursuing his work of desolation in 
South Wales. Glamorganshire, in particular, became the 
victim of his unsparing revenge. Numerous castles and ec- 
clesiastical structures, among which was the episcopal pa- 
lace of Llandav, were wholly demolished. The town of 
Cardiff, with its various monasteries and convents, shared 
the same fate ; and every fortress along his route, in the 
possession of individuals inimical to his cause, became a 
prey to his fury f. After this career of destruction, he re- 
turned hastily to North Wales for the purpose of defend* 
ing that country against the invasion meditated by Henry. 
The king had now completed the military arrangements 
for his enterprise against Glyndwr. His army, consisting 
of the levies of thirty-three counties, was divided into three 

* The Earl of March, at that time, with his brother, a prisoner in Windsor 
Castle, was, upon the death of Richard, the next heir to the crown, as de- 
scended from Lionel, Duke of Clarence, through Philippa, his daughter and 
sole heiress. He and his family, therefore, were naturally objects of jea- 
lousy to Henry, who, in his rigorous treatment of the young earl, may have 
said with much truth, considering the circumstances of the times, and bis 
particular situation, — 

" Res dura et regni novitas me talia cogunt." 
f Among these were the town and castle of Abergaveney, and the for- 
tresses of Crug Hywel and Tre'r Twr. 



253 

bodies, which were to be respectively stationed at Here- 
ford, Shrewsbury, and Chester, in order to harass the 
Welsh at so many different points. One of these divisions 
was commanded by the king in person, and appears to have 
been the only one that made any attempt to execute the 
proposed plan. Glyndwr, however, was not unprepared 
for the attack. Having, according to his usual practice, 
deprived the enemy of the means of subsistence, by driving 
the country, he took shelter among his mountain bulwarks. 
The natural consequences of this system of warfare, as on 
previous occasions, befel the English army. Disease, fa- 
mine, and discontent visited their ranks ; and a most incle- 
ment season, pregnant with rains and tempests, completed 
the calamities of the invaders. Henry, accordingly, found 
himself once more under the necessity of making a dis- 
graceful retreat ; and the only consolation, left to his dis- 
comfited followers, was that their disasters had been occa- 
sioned, as they ignorantly presumed, by the supernatural 
machinations of the enemy, and not by his skill or his 
valour *. 



* An old historian, in allusion to this event, says, that Glyndwr " through 
art magicke (as was thought) caused such foule weather of winds, tempest, 
raine, snow, and haile, to be raised for the annoiance of the king's armie, 
that the like had not been heard of." Shakespear too, who seems to have 
embodied, in his portrait of Glyndwr, all that was romantic or marvellous in 
the traditional accounts of his life and character, thus alludes to his won- 
der-working endowments : — 

" "Where is he living clipp'd in with the sea, 
That chides the banks of England, Scotland, Wales, 
Who calls me pupil, or hath read to me? 
And bring him out, that is but woman's son, 
Can trace me in the tedious ways of art, 
And hold me pace in deep experiment? 
I can call spirits from the vasty deep." 

It 



254 

Soon after this, the events in the north of England had 
united the Earls of Northumberland and Douglas in a war- 
like league against Henry, and it naturally occurred to 
them, that the alliance of Glyndwr would materially assist 
their designs. The family of Percy, in particular, were 
anxious to form this connexion, as it might be the means 
of procuring the release of Sir Edmund Mortimer, still a 
prisoner with the Welsh chief, and respecting whose ran- 
som they had made frequent and fruitless applications to 
Henry, who, as already intimated, regarded the captivity 
of Mortimer rather with satisfaction than otherwise. 
Prompted by these motives, the Earl of Northumberland's 
son, the celebrated Hotspur, made overtures to Glyndwr, 
who, without hesitation, acceded to them ; and the first 
proof of his sincerity in the cause was the unconditional 
release of his captive. In order to ratify this alliance, as 
well as to form a plan of operations, a meeting took place 
at the house of the Dean of Bangor, in Carnarvonshire, 
between Glyndwr and his two confederates, young Percy 
and Mortimer; on which occasion all the island, south of 
the Tweed, was rather prematurely divided among the as- 
piring triumvirate. Sir Edmund Mortimer, on the part of 
his nephew, as having the highest claim, was to possess all 
the country from the Trent to the Severn, as far as the 
southern and eastern boundaries of the island ; to the Earl 



It was probably to the retreat of Henry, upon the occasion above noticed, 
that the Bard of Avon alludes in the following lines : — 

" Three times did Henry Bolingbroke make head 
Against the Welsh : thrice from the banks of Wye, 
And sandy-bottom'd Severn, did they send 
Him bootless back and weather-beaten home." 

Yet, in strictness of fact, this appears to have been the fourth retreat, which 
Henry was compelled to make before the victorious arms of his adversary. 



255 

of Northumberland was allotted all that part of the king- 
dom, which lay north of the Trent ; and the Lord of Glyn- 
dyvrdwy was to have all the territory westward of the Se- 
vern, in addition to the Principality of Wales, which he 
claimed as his by hereditary right *. 

The confederate chiefs, having thus satisfactorily ad- 
justed their preliminary measures, hastened to avail them- 
selves of their several resources, for the purpose of con- 
summating what they had, as they conceived, so auspi- 
ciously commenced. The first act of Glyndwr, upon this oc- 
casion, was to obtain the sanction of his countrymen to his 
assumption of a royal authority ; and for this purpose he 
convoked a national assembly at Machynlleth, in Montgo- 
meryshire, at which his title as Prince of Wales was for- 
mally recognized. The ceremony of coronation was even 
performed, and every thing wore the aspect of a sincere and 
unanimous acknowledgment of his pretensions. An inci- 
dent occurred, however, to mar, in some degree, the har- 
mony of the scene, and had nearly brought to a premature 
close the ambitious career of the new prince. The cele- 
brated Sir David Gam, afterwards so deservedly distin- 
guished in English history for his gallantry in the battle of 
Agincourt, was present at this meeting, under the pretence 
of uniting in its general object, but really, as may be as- 
sumed from the sequel, with very different views. He had 



* To aid the enthusiasm, which inspired the triple confederacy upon thi& 
occasion, resort was had to an ancient prediction, which seemed to desig- 
nate the overthrow of Henry, under the name of JVJoldwarp (cursed of God's 
own mouth) by the agency of a dragon, a lion, and a wolf. For the purpose 
of completing the prophecy, by the appropriation of the other names, Glyn- 
dwr assumed that of dragon, Percy was the lion, and Mortimer the wolf; 
each name adopted from some emblem or characteristic, which was, no 
doubt, considered happily applicable to the occasion. 



256 

been long in the service of Henry, to whom he was zeal- 
ously attached; a circumstance, which might alone ac- 
count for his animosity against Glyndwr, even if he had 
been uninfluenced by any spirit of rivalry** But, what- 
ever were his motives, he had conceived the base design of 
assassinating his countryman ; and the plot was accidentally 
discovered when on the point of being executed. The 
traitor Was apprehended on the spot, and would have suf- 
fered the punishment due to his perfidy, but for the inter- 
cession of some of Glyndwr's most intimate friends. His 
life was spared, but only at the price of his liberty* He 
Was consigned to a dungeon +, where, in all probability, he 
would have ended his days, if the extinction of the rebel- 
lion had not restored him to freedom after a tedious incar- 
ceration of ten years. Glyndwr had also extorted from 
him an engagement of fidelity to his cause, which the cap- 
tive had no opportunity of fulfilling ; and, soon after his 
imprisonment, he destroyed his house J. 

The sovereign dignity, with which Glyndwr had thus 
been invested, united with the confederacy he had formed 
with Hotspur and Mortimer, communicated to his fortunes 
a degree of hope, which they had not enjoyed at any pre- 
ceding period. It is evident that he now regarded all his 

* Mr. Thomas, in his " Memoirs," p. 109, states, that Sir David Gam was 
a brother-in-law of Glyndwr, having married his sister. This is a mistake, 
and may have been owing originally to the circumstance of one of Glyndwr's 
sisters having been married to Davydd ab Ednyved Gam, a person of note 
in North Wales. Sir David Gam's wife was a native of Radnorshire. 

f The remains of the prison, in which Glyndwr inimured his captives, are 
still to be seen at Glyndyvrdwy, and are known by the name of ** Ovvain 
Glyndwr's Prison-house." They form part of a modern dwelling, and afford, 
even in their ruins, ample proofs of the strength of the original building. 

t This was Old Court, in Monmouthshire, the site of which is still to be 
traced between Abergaveney and Monmouth. 



257 

dreams of ambition as on the eve of being realized; but the 
fatal battle of Shrewsbury, which happened soon after- 
wards, tended, in a great degree, to dispel the illusion. 
The want of a preconcerted plan of operations on the part 
of the allied chiefs, so obvious On the occasion, was the 
main cause of the disasters that ensued * ; and the battle 
was lost before Glyndwr, who was stationed at Oswestry, 
a distance of about eighteen miles, could bring all his force 
into the field. The skilful manoeuvres of the English mo- 
narch, by cutting off his communication with his confede- 
rates, had compelled him to remain in a state of inactivity 
with the main body of his army, amounting to about twelve 
thousand men. He had only been able to detach a small 
division for the purpose ; and the defeat of this> notwith- 
standing the bravery it evinced, with the general result of 
the engagement, seems, for the moment, to have para- 
lyzed his exertions. For it is extremely probable, that, 
had Glyndwr taken advantage of the exhausted state of 
Henry's troops immediately after the battle, while his own 
were in so fresh a condition, he might, with the co-opera- 
tion of what yet remained of the forces of the confederates, 
have torn the laurels from the brows of the conquerors. 
But a desultory system of warfare seems, on all occasions, 
to have been most congenial with his disposition f . Ac- 

* It is said, that Hotspur, previous to the battle, solicited au interview 
with Glyndwr, which the latter declined. Whether this be true or not, it 
is certain that there was an obvious want of concert between the insurgent 
leaders. Mutual jealousies had, perhaps, succeeded to the sanguine antici- 
pations with which the league was at first formed. 

t If this were not so evident as it is from the whole history of Glyndwr's 
insurrection, it would be sufficiently obvious from the following document, 1 
to which allusion was made in the early part of this memoir, as being hi- 
therto, in all probability, unpublished. It appears to have been a sort of 
circular invitation addressed by Glyndwr to some of his principal partisans* 

s 



258, 

cordingly in the present instance, as soon as the English 
army had quitted their position, he seized the opportunity 
to carry through the neighbouring country all the terrors 
of pillage and conflagration, the Lords Marchers being, 
as usual, the principal sufferers. 

Such, at this moment, was the impoverished state of 
Henry's finances, that he could make no effective resistance 
to the desolating career of the Welsh chieftain. He was 
obliged to restrict his hostility to measures of a defensive 
character; with which view he repaired and fortified all the 
castles, possessed by the English, in Wales or the vicinity, 
and entrusted their defence to individuals of approved cou- 
rage and fidelity, with strict injunctions to employ all their 
means in opposing the attacks of Glyndwr, who seems, in 



The original, of which a transcript exists among the " Myvyrian MSS." be- 
longing to the Cymmrodorion, is in the doggrel Latin of the age to which it 
relates. The following is a translation : — " We send you cur love and greet- 
ing, as we hope, that, by God's and your assistance, we shall be able to de- 
liver the Welsh nation from the yoke of our enemies the English, who have 
long time oppressed us and our ancestors. And be assured, that, according 
to all appearance, the time of their glory is past, and that victory and tri- 
umph are turning to our side, so that nothing but sloth or discord can pre- 
vent us from having undoubted success. Agreeably to this, we demand, we 
require, and even entreat you to summon all resolution, and boldly to come 
to our aid to whatever place ye shall hear is ravaged by conflagration and 
slaughter, as we hope to effect such things on our march, and that, by God's help, 
shortly. This we entreat you not to neglect, as you value your liberty and 
honour. You could not be blamed, indeed, for your former absence, as you 
had not received a general intimation previous to our first insurrection ; for 
we were under the necessity of rising on the first attack of fear and danger. 
Farewell! May God defend you from evil! Owain ab Gruffvdd, Lord of 
Glyndyvrdwy." — It must be manifest from the whole tenour of this letter, that 
it was written in a moment of exultation, immediately after one of Glyn- 
dwr's most important triumphs, but before he had assumed the title of 
" Prince of Wales." However, the date is unfortunately wanting, and can- 
not now be satisfactorily supplied. 



259 

the mean time, to have been pursuing his predatory career 
unmolested. 

Soon after this a treaty, offensive and defensive, was 
formed between Glyndwr and the king of France* who, 
having never acknowledged the justice of Henry's title to 
the English crown, was glad to avail himself of this oppor- 
tunity to unite, against him, with one, who had proved 
himself so persevering, if not formidable, in his hostility, 
as the Welsh chieftain. Accordingly, the latter dispatched 
ambassadors to France for the purpose of arranging the 
terms of the treaty, which Was signed at Paris on the 14th 
of June, 1404, and received the ratification of Glyndwr on 
the 12th of January in the following year*. This confe- 
deracy with so powerful a sovereign as the French king 
may be supposed to have communicated a new importance 
to Glyndwr's cause ; but the sequel proves* that this im- 
portance was rather nominal than real. Glyndwr had now 
reached the crisis of his fortunes* and, whatever partial suc- 
cesses marked his future career, his union with France does 
not appear to have given birth to one solid triumph. 

The commencement of the year 1405 was distinguished 
by some vigorous operations on the part of Glyndwr against 
the fortresses possessed by the English in Wales, several 
of which he took, dismantling some and retaining others. 
Among these were the celebrated castles of Harlech and 
Aberystwith, in the counties of Merioneth and Cardi- 
gan, which were not surpassed by any fortifications in the 
Principality in the natural and artificial advantages, which 

* This ratification took place at the castle of Llanbadarn, near Aberyst- 
with, in Cardiganshire. The individuals, whom Glyndwr appointed as his 
plenipotentiaries at Paris, for the purpose of arranging the preliminaries of 
the treaty, were Grnffydd Yonge, LL. D., and his brother-in-law, Sir John 
Hanmer. 



260 

they combined*. Glyndwr's next operations were not of 
so favourable a character ; for, upon marching into Mont- 
gomeryshire, after the successes just noticed, he was sud- 
denly encountered by an English army under the command 
of the Earl of Warwick, by whom he was compelled to re- 
treat with the loss of many of his followers. But this dis- 
aster was in a great degree compensated by a triumph, 
which he soon afterwards gained over the English troops 
at a place called Craig y Dorth, in the vicinity of Mon- 
mouthf. 

Soon after this, however, our hero experienced the re- 
verses of fortune, whose favours he was not destined again 
to enjoy, in any extraordinary degree. A party of his fol- 
lowers, to the number of eight thousand, had been col- 
lected in South Wales, where, agreeably with the practice 
of the age, they committed great devastations, burning, in 
their route, such towns and fortresses as were inimical to 
their cause. They had not long pursued their career of 
destruction, before they were encountered by a much in- 
ferior force of English, under the command of Sir Gilbert 
Talbot. An engagement ensued ; but, the English, who 
gave no quarter, completely routed the Welsh troops, not- 
withstanding the superiority of their numbers ; and the loss 
of a thousand men, slain on the field, was the result of this 
decisive defeat. Glyndwr, however, made immediate ex- 



* Harlech was, anciently, a celebrated fortress of an almost impregnable 
nature, and is supposed to have been founded by Maelgwn Gwynedd about 
the year 581. Its original name was Twr Bronwen, or Bron wen's Tower ^ 
and it was afterwards called Caer Collwyn, the Fortress of Collwyn, from 
Collwyn ab Tangno, head of one of the fifteen tribes of North Wales, who 
resided there during the eighth century. 

t Craig y Dorth lies between Chepstow aud Monmouth, at a short dis- 
tance from Treleg Common. 



261 

ertions to repair this misfortune. He dispatched a large 
body of men under the command of his son Gruffydd, who 
hazarded another battle with the English only four days 
after the date of the last*. But the result was most dis- 
astrous. Not only were fifteen hundred men killed or 
taken prisoners ; but the Welsh chief had also to bewail 
the captivity of his son, and the death of his brother Tu- 
dur, whose near resemblance to Glyndwr occasioned the 
conquerors at first to exult in the supposed overthrow of 
the Welsh prince himself. Their joy, however, was but 
of a transient nature ; for, upon the body being examined, 
it was found to want a wart over the eye, by which the 
brothers were distinguished from each other. The battle, 
here noticed, was fought at a place called Mynydd-y-Pwll- 
Melyn, in Brecknockshire, according to the most received 
authority ; but some writers place the scene of action at 
Uske, in the county of Monmouth. The difference be- 
tween these two accounts is not worth reconciling, even if 
it were possible. It is enough to know, that this engage- 
ment, wherever fought, proved a death-blow to the aspiring 
Tiopes of the lord of Glyndyvrdwy. 

The fatal battle of Mynydd-y-Pwll-Melyn was followed 
by a state of great destitution on the part of Glyndwr. 
The certainty of his defeat, and the rumour of his death, 
had caused almost all his principal followers to abandon 
the standard of insurrection ; and the chieftain was driven 
td the melancholy extremity of seeking an asylum in ca- 
verns and desert places, from which he occasionally ven- 
tured forth to visit a few faithful friends, who supplied him 
with the common necessaries of life. Tradition has com- 



* The first battle was fought on the 11th of March, and the second on 
the 15th of the same month. 



262 

memorated two caves, one in Carnarvonshire, and the 
other in Merionethshire, as forming the gloomy residence 
of the Welsh chief during this part of his existence*. How 
long he continued thus to lead the life of an anchorite does 
not appear ; but his retreat was certainly of no very long 
duration. For in the same year, in which he experienced 
the defeat last related, we find him in active alliance with 
the French forces that had arrived in South Wales, in con- 
formity with the treaty concluded between Glyndwr and 
the king of France. An army of twelve thousand men 
landed at Milford Haven, for the purpose of co-operating 
with Glyndwr ; and the followers of the latter had so far 
rallied as to enable him to join them with a force of ten 
thousand men. 

This junction of the French and Welsh forces took place 
at Tenby in Pembrokeshire ; and their first operations ap- 
pear to have been directed against the town of Carmar- 
then, which, either from the imperfect state of its garrison, 
or its friendly disposition towards Glyndwr, fell an easy 
prey to the besiegers. From this place the united army 
marched towards Worcester, and, on their arrival there, 
burnt a great part of the town, and laid waste the sur- 
rounding country. Henry, being apprised of these pro- 
ceedings, determined to march in person against the inva- 
ders. The latter, in the meantime, had advanced beyond 
Worcester, and had exposed the country to all the ravages 
consequent on the incursion of a hostile army. Upon 

* A cavern near the sea-side, in the parish of Llangelynin, in Merioneth- 
shire, still preserves the name of Ogov Gwain, or Owen's Cave, and must 
have been one of his places of concealment. He is said to have been se- 
cretly supported there by one Ednyved ab Aron, an individual of distinc- 
tion in that part of the country. Another of the fugitive chieftain's haunts 
on this occasion was Moel Hebog, near Beddgelert, in Carnarvonshire. 



263 

hearing, however, of the advance of the English, the al- 
lied forces suddenly retreated, and took up a position about 
nine miles from Worcester, on the Welsh side of that city. 
The camp of Glyndwr is said to have occupied a part of 
Wobury Hill, which may be supposed to have been selected 
in conformity with the common practice of the Welsh 
chieftains, as well as for the advantages it presented from 
its contiguity to the borders of Wales. Although the al- 
lies and the English continued on this occasion to menace 
each other for several days, it does not appear that any 
general action took place. There were, indeed, some 
warm skirmishes, in which the loss, on the side of the 
French and English, is recorded as nearly equal. With 
respect to Glyndwr, there is no authority for supposing 
that he was at all engaged : he seems, with an unaccount- 
able caution, to have remained wholly inactive for eight 
days after the arrival of the English, when he made a sud- 
den nocturnal retreat into Wales, where he was soon fol- 
lowed by his allies. The historians of this period, it should 
be observed, are somewhat at variance as to the events 
now under consideration, some ascribing the first retro- 
grade movement to Henry, and others to his enemies*. 
From concurrent circumstances, the latter conclusion seems 



* Among the conflicting testimonies on this point are those of Monstrelet 
and Hall. The former attaches the opprobrium of the first retreat to 
Henry, who, he says, was attacked on the occasion by the French, who 
captured eighteen provision-waggons. Hal!, an English historian, pn the 
other hand, relates, that Henry '« chased the enemy from hilles to dales, 
from dales to wodes, from wodes to marishes, and yet could never have 
them to any advantage." But he afterwards admits, that, in his retreat, 
he lost " certayn cariges laden with vitayle, to his great displeasure, and to 
the great comforte of the Welsh." Hall thus appears to agree, in one par- 
ticular, with Monstrelet, with the variation, indeed, of making the Welsh 
the captors instead of the French. 



264 

the most probable, while it must, on the other hand, be 
admitted, that, whatever success may have attended the 
arms of the English monarch, he was not in a condition to 
pursue his triumph. After having made formidable pre- 
parations for again invading the Principality, he suddenly 
relinquished, his design, awed perhaps by the approach of 
winter, and the experience of former similar enterprises, 
from which he had reaped neither advantage nor glory. 

The French, upon their retirement into Wales, seem to 
have grown weary of the cause in which they had em- 
barked, and which, in its results, had proved of so barren 
a nature. For, after passing a few months longer in a 
state of inactivity, they returned to France ; and thus ter- 
minated an alliance, which tended, in no respect, to for- 
tify the interests of Glyndwr. The light of hope was, for 
a moment, awakened ; but it vanished only to leave a gloom 
more disheartening than what had preceded it. 

It may here be proper to mention, that it forms no part 
of the object of this memoir to enter into a minute detail of 
all the transactions connected with the insurrection of 
Glyndwr, and especially of those, in which he was not 
personally concerned. Accordingly, several sieges and de- 
vastations, consequent on this protracted hostility, have 
been passed without notice ; but they have, for the most 
part, been such as related only to the partisans of the 
Welsh chief. The aim of these pages is to convey rather 
a memorial of the man than of the times in which he lived, 
which, however fertile in events of interest to the historian, 
cannot, in this point of view, be embraced within the plan 
of the biographer*. 



* It is not intended that this remark should have any reference to the 
" Memoirs of Owain Glyndwr," by Mr. Thomas, already alluded to, which 



265 

It was in the spring of the year 1406 that the French 
troops abandoned Wales ; but their place was speedily 
supplied by another reinforcement, the remnant of a much 
larger body, that had left the French shores, and which, 
on its passage, had been taken or dispersed by the Eng- 
lish*. However seasonable these succours might have 
proved under different circumstances, it does not appear 
that Glyndwr was at present in a condition to turn them to 
any advantage. His friends and partisans were rapidly 
forsaking him ; and, among the most important defections 
of this nature, was the revolt of the inhabitants of Ystrad 
Tywy, in Carmarthenshire, who, from their numbers and 
martial character, had been regarded among his most 
powerful auxiliaries. 

About this period the Earl of Northumberland and 
Lord Bardolf, who had been exiles in Scotland, having 
reason to suspect the fidelity of the inhabitants, removed 
to Wales, where they hoped, under the auspices of Glyn- 
dwr, to find a more secure asylum. They were received 
by him with all the hospitality, for which he was distin- 
guished, and which they continued to enjoy until the fol- 
lowing year, when the still declining fortunes of their friend 
induced them to seek a new retreat. And it is probable, 

was obviously designed rather as an historical view of the affairs of Wales 
during the time of Glyndwr, as well as before and after that period, than as 
a mere biographical sketch of the Welsh chieftain himself. The plan of the 
Cambrian Plutarch, however, does not admit of so extensive a disser- 
tation. 

* The French fleet on this occasion consisted of thirty-eight sail, eight of 
which, laden with troops, were captured by the English. The remainder 
escaped in the greatest confusion. It does not appear what number ar- 
rived safely at their destination, or, indeed, whether the troops they con- 
veyed took any active part on the side of Glyndwr. 



266 

that, on this occasion, they were influenced as much by a 
delicate disinclination to be any longer burthensome to 
their generous protector in the hour of adversity, as by 
any anxiety to provide for their own safety. 

Notwithstanding the reverses of the Welsh chieftain, 
it appears, that he still asserted his regal or rather princely 
pretensions, as is manifest from a pardon granted, at this 
time, to some of his countrymen, on which occasion the 
official instrument is dated in the " sixth year of his reign*." 
But this was only an effort to retain the shadow when the 
substance had disappeared. The subsequent years of our 
hero's existence present little more than a continued series 
of desultory warfare, directed to no other end than the 
persecution of such individuals, as continued firm in their 
allegiance to Henry, or as had forsaken his own standard. 
The Lords Marchers, as on former occasions, were pecu- 
liarly exposed to his predatory attacks, several of the 
towns and fortresses in their possession having suffered 
severely ; and, in order the more effectually to execute his 
plans, Glyndwr succeeded in forming a truce with some of 
these nobles, that he might, with the greater facility, harass 
the rest. Lord Grey, the original cause of the insurrec- 
tion, appears to have been included in the number of 
those, whom Glyndwr had thus rendered subservient to 
his designs. Henry, when apprised of the fact, dispatched 
imperative orders, that all pacific arrangements, formed 
between the Lords Marchers and Glyndwr, should be an- 
nulled, and, that the former should employ all their forces 

* The pardon, alluded to, was granted to John ab Hywel ab Ieuan 
Goch, and is dated at Cevn Llanvair on the 10th of January. On the seal 
of the instrument was the portrait of Glyndwr, holding a sceptre in his right 
hand, and a globe in his left. 



267 

to crush what still remained unsubdued of this obstinate 
rebellion. 

This edict, we may presume, had the desired effect, at 
least so far as to mitigate the violence of the Welsh chief- 
tain's hostility. For, immediately after this period, his war- 
like operations were merely of a defensive character. He 
seems to have retired among his mountain bulwarks, un- 
conquered indeed in spirit, but greatly weakened in power, 
and deserted by most of his followers. 

Such was the condition of Glyndwr when, in the year 
1413, Henry V. ascended the English throne. This prince, 
we have seen, had been particularly active in his earlier years, 
in his opposition to the Welsh insurgents ; but, upon as- 
suming the regal dignity, he does not appear to have been 
actuated by any remarkable animosity against his former 
antagonists. His attention, indeed, was, at the moment, 
almost wholly absorbed by his projects against France; 
and the conquest of Glyndwr was regarded as an object of 
Comparatively little importance. The Welsh chief mean- 
time remained secure in his alpine retreat, unwilling or 
unable to attempt any enterprise of a formidable descrip- 
tion. 

The remaining portion of Glyndwr's life was chiefly 
devoted to the same predatory and irregular warfare, to 
which his hostility had latterly been confined. His im- 
pregnable position among the mountains favoured enter- 
prises of this character, and there is reason to believe, that 
they were also too congenial with his natural inclination. 
But, although he had thus ceased to carry on his hostile 
designs on an extended scale, it may be inferred, that he 
was still regarded by the English government as an enemy, 
whom it was worth while to conciliate, and that his for- 
tunes, accordingly, were not reduced to that state of abso- 



268 

lute desperation, which some writers pretend*. For, in 
the year 1415, Sir Gilbert Talbot, who had been opposed 
to Glyndwr in the field, was deputed by Henry to nego- 
ciate with him on terms, which secured his personal safety, 
and that of such of his partisans as still remained faithful 
to him. Whether Glyndwr lived to enjoy the benefit of 
this treaty, or, indeed, whether it was even ratified during 
his life, does not appearf. One thing only is certain, that, 
on the 20th of September, 1415, this last champion of Welsh 
independence terminated his earthly career, in the sixty- 
first year of his age J ; and, according to the most probable 
testimony, his death took place at the house of one of his 
daughters in Herefordshire. The more popular tradition 
appropriates the event to Monington, which was the resi- 
dence of his youngest daughter, who had been married to 
Roger Monington of that place, and where, it is said, 

* The monkish historians of this period ascribe to the latter years of 
Glyndwr's life the most extreme wretchedness, representing him as endur- 
ing all the miseries of a fugitive and an outcast. This, however, is totally 
at variance with the negociation proposed by Henry V., who certainly 
would not have condescended to treat with a man in such desperate circum- 
stances. It is probable, that the writers in question have transferred to 
the close of Glyndwr's life the sufferings which he endured immediately 
after the battle of Mynydd-y-Pwll-Melin, in 1405, as already related. 

+ The treaty was, however, renewed, after the death of Glyndwr, with 
his son Meredydd. The event happened on the 24th of February, 1416, 
and may be regarded as the closing scene of this protracted and turbulent 
drama. 

t The year of Glyndwr's death, as well as that of his insurrection, is 
faithfully preserved in the following englyn. 

Mil a phedwar cant, nid mwy, — cov ydyw, 

Cy vodiad Glyndyvrdwy j 

Aphymtheg, prafeisafwy, 

Bu Owain hen by w yn hwy. 

This contradicts the statement of Rapin, who says he died in 1417. 



269 

Glyndwr was interred*. But, as this honour is also 
claimed by Kentchurch, in the same county, where another 
of his daughters lived, the only conclusion, to be drawn 
from these conflicting pretensions, is, that Herefordshire 
was, as Rapin asserts, the scene of his death. Nor can 
any thing be more probable, than that, in his latter hours, 
he should have sought in the arms of his children that re- 
pose, which fifteen years of turbulent activity had rendered 
so necessary. 

The children of Glyndwr have already been incidentally 
noticed. By his marriage with the daughter of Sir David 
Hanmer he appears to have had several, both sons and 
daughters. The number of the former is uncertain, and 
we have no particular memorials of their fate, any farther 
than that some of them fought, and, most probably, fell in 
their father's cause. One, however, at least, as we have 
seen by a preceding note, survived him. His daughters 
were five in number, and were all married; the eldest, 
Isabel, to Adda ab Iorwerth Ddu ; the second, Alicia, to 
Sir John Scudamore, of Kentchurch ; the third, Janet, to 
John Crofts, of Croft Castle, in Herefordshire ; the fourth, 
Jane, as we have already seen, to Lord Grey ; and the 
youngest, Margaret, to Roger Monington, above noticed* 
Glyndwr had also some illegitimate children, chiefly daugh- 
ters, who were married to persons of respectable family in 
the Principality. The name of but one son, Ieuan, has 
been preserved, and this is the only memorial of him. 

The usual residence of Glyndwr, as before-mentioned, 

* It is stated upon the authority of the Harleian MSS., in the British 
Museum, that the supposed body of Glyndwr was discovered at Moning- 
ton, upon rebuilding the church in the year 1680, that it was entire, and 
of " goodly stature." But the account is too vague to be entitled to much 
credit. 



270 

was Sycharth, respecting the particular site of which there 
may be some doubt. A celebrated writer* places it in the 
valley of the Dee, three miles below Corwen, and makes 
no hesitation in identifying this as the spot, where the 
chieftain received Iolo, his devoted bard, in whose strains 
the place is described with so much minuteness. It has, 
on the other hand, been surmised, with a considerable de- 
gree of plausibility, that the Sycharth, commemorated by 
the poet, was in the parish of Llansilin, in Denbighshire, 
about twelve miles south-east of Glyndyvrdwy*)-. Glyn- 
dwr, it is known, possessed domains in both these places % 
and it is, therefore, natural to conclude that he had a 
mansion in each. And \t must be admitted, that the one 
called Sycharth, which forms the particular subject of 
Iolo's "Invitation Poem," was, most probably, situate in 
Llansilin, on the small river Cynllaith, where the name 
is retained to this day, and where other peculiarities har- 
monize, in a remarkable manner, with the poet's descrip- 
tionj. But the point cannot now be satisfactorily deter- 
mined : there is ample room, however, for the ingenuity of 
conjecture. 

In person the subject of this memoir has been described 
as tall and athletic ; in his deportment dignified ; and, in 
his manners easy, courteous, and prepossessing. His na- 
tural endowments were, it is probable, of a highly respect- 



* Mr. Pennant. f See the Cambro-Briton, vol. i. p. 458. 

% This is particularly remarkable in the presumed site of Sycharth, as 
still to be traced in Llansilin, and in the park, mill, and fish-ponds, evident 
remains of which are yet to be seen on the same spot. But none of these 
characteristics, so minutely described by Iolo, are to be traced, or, at least, 
by no means so satisfactorily on the banks of the Dee. Yet, after all, the 
matter may be of no great importance ; or, if it be, it does not rest with 
ns to decide it. — Non nostrum tantas componere lites. 



271 

able character ; and with these he must have united such 
borrowed attainments as belonged, in that age, to indivi- 
duals of his station. At least, it may be assumed, from 
his early residence in the court of Richard II., and his 
particular employment near that monarch's person, that he 
was well skilled in the accomplishments of a military life. 
His talents as a warrior were not, however, it may be ad- 
mitted, of the highest order; but it is certain, that he 
combined with unquestionable courage a great share of 
policy and circumspection. His military views, indeed, 
were generally too much distinguished by the cautiousness 
of their character ; yet, what they may have wanted in 
grandeur of design was often supplied by the boldness and 
effectiveness of their execution. His operations were, for 
the most part, of an isolated nature, directed rather to 
secure some particular objects, than to promote the gene- 
ral interests of his cause. He seemed, therefore, to fight 
more to avenge his private wrongs than to vindicate the li- 
berties of his country, though it is certain that these latter 
were never absent from his regard. But the feudal charac- 
teristics of the age, and the various factions that divided 
the country, made it impossible for him to appear wholly 
disinterested. Nor should it be forgotten, that his pa- 
triotic struggle, long and arduous as it was, had its source 
in his own personal injuries; 

Of the more general character of Glyndwr we have but 
few traits. We have seen that he was superstitious, but 
this was a fault of the times, and in which, it is probable, 
he participated frequently as much from policy as inclina- 
tion. His most conspicuous failings appear to have been 
the irascibility and vindictiveness of his temper, to which, 
however, must be opposed a warmth of heart, which en- 
sured the sincerity of his attachments. In this respect he 



272 

united those opposite, yet not incongenial, extremes of 
character, which generally distinguish his countrymen. If 
he was unforgiving in his enmities, he was not less ardent 
in his friendships. In domestic life, as we have already 
seen, his hospitality was unlimited, and the general pa- 
tronage he extended towards the bards, proves unquestion- 
ably the natural liberality of his sentiments. In the en- 
couragement of the national muse, indeed, he evinced an 
enlightened enthusiasm, worthy of the best ages of Welsh 
independence. 

Such was Owain Glyndwr, and, in whatever view we 
may regard him, he will appear as the most eminent cha- 
racter which his country produced during the age in which 
he lived. Born to a private station, he elevated himself, 
by his own unaided energies, to the rank of a warrior 
and a conqueror, maintaining an obstinate contest, during 
fifteen years, against all the resources of a powerful mo- 
narchy, as well as against the private factions by which he 
was surrounded at home. The accomplishment of such a 
task, notwithstanding its ultimate issue, denotes him to have 
possessed no ordinary qualifications : it proves, at least, 
that he was bold, persevering, and ardent, in the pursuit 
of his object. And, if, with this, we consider the sincerity 
of his belief in the justice of his cause, we shall find it dif- 
ficult to appropriate to his memory the odium which com- 
monly attaches itself to unsuccessful treason. They, who 
regard Owain Glyndwr as a traitor, ought to keep in mind 
that his sword was only drawn against an usurper, and 
that whatever excesses marked his military career may find 
ample palliation in the injustice which had provoked them. 



273 



SIR RHYS AB THOMAS*. 

Among the natives of Wales, who acquired any distinc- 
tion during the fifteenth Century, the subject of this memoir 
merits an eminent place. Whether we contemplate him 
with reference to his rank, his endowments, or the part he 
acted in the political transactions of that period, we shall 
find his claim on our notice to be of an imperative nature. 
Descended from a long line of illustrious ancestors, he was 
indebted to his personal qualities for a reputation, which 
even eclipsed the nobleness of his birth. 

Rhys ab Thomas, for it was not until in after life that he 
acquired his titular designation, claimed a lineal descent 
from Urien Rheged, an illustrious chieftain, contemporary 
with Arthur, and of whom some notice occurs in a pre- 
ceding memoirf. In the female line he also numbered 
among his ancestors Elystan Glodrydd, head of one of the 
five royal tribes of the PrincipalityJ. His paternal grand- 

* This memoir, it may be right to premise, is principally indebted for 
the facts, upon which it is founded, to a curious life of Sir Rhys ab Thomas, 
written in the reign of James I. by a person, who appears to have claimed 
some relationship with the family. This production may be seen in the first 
volume of the Cambrian Register, and, notwithstanding its quaint and pe- 
dantic style, must be regarded as an interesting memorial of the times in 
which it was written. 

f See page 58, supra. A grandson of Rhys ab Thomas, in the reign of 
that capricious tyrant Henry VIII., lost his head for assuming the name of 
Fitzrurien, which Henry was pleased to consider as an indication of his in- 
tention to aspire to the sovereignty of Wales. This ancient family, it may 
be here noticed, is now represented by Lord Dynevor, of Dynevor Castle, 
Carmarthenshire. 

Z Elystan Glodrydd lived in the tenth century, and is recorded, in the 
Historical Triads, as one of the " three band-wearing princes of Britain." 

T His 



274 

father was Gruffydd ab Nicholas, so celebrated for his mu- 
nificent patronage of the poets and minstrels of his time, 
and who fell in the contests between the houses of York 
and Lancaster, in which he was engaged as an active par- 
tisan of the Yorkists. Thomas ab Gruffydd, the eldest son 
of this individual, was the father of Rhys ab Thomas. 
Being averse to the political feuds in which the country was 
then embroiled, he retired to Burgundy, where he distin- 
guished himself by his skill in the chivalrous accomplish- 
ments of the age, and was for a considerable time in parti- 
cular favour with the reigning duke, Philip the Good. An 
affair of gallantry, however^ in which he became involved 
with a near relative of that prince, compelled him to return 
rather suddenly to Wales, where, after being engaged in 
several personal combats, according to the rude manners of 
the times, he had the misfortune to fail under the hands of 



an assassin 



* 



The subject of this memoir was the third son of Thomas 
ab Gruffydd, by a daughter of Sir John Griffith, of Abermar- 
lais, in Carmarthenshire. His two elder brothers, Morgan- 
and David, ended their days, soon after the death of their 
father, in some of the sanguinary affrays arising from the po- 
litics of the times, to which Wales was so miserably exposed. 
The brothers had espoused opposite sides, and there is some 
ground for believing, that they fell while actually confronted 
to each other in the prosecution of this unnatural struggle. 

Rhys ab Thomas first saw the light at Abermarlais, in 



His territory was situated in that part of the country which lies between the 
Severn and Wye. He was also lord of Hereford in right of his mother. 

• This happened at Pennal, in Merionethshire, just after a personal en- 
counter, in which he had been successful. Being exhausted, however, by 
loss of blood, he lay down, and, while in this situation, was stabbed una- 
wares by a servant or friend of his adversary. 



275 

Carmarthenshire, in the year 1451 ; and his father appears, 
on his birth, to have entertained some extraordinary pre- 
sage of his future celebrity. At least, it is certain, that, 
yielding to his superstitious feelings in this respect, he had 
recourse to the occult wisdom of the astrologer, to satisfy 
his paternal solicitude respecting the destiny of his child; 
and the oracular responses he received gave a countenance 
to his most flattering anticipations. Elated by what he re- 
garded as a preternatural assurance on a subject so inter- 
esting, he determined to spare no pains or expense in the 
education of his son; and young Rhys, while yet in his 
infancy, was placed under the care of Dr. Lewis, a physi- 
cian, whose talents and attainments rendered him subse- 
quently a prominent character in the political drama then 
acted*. From this person Rhys received his earliest in- 
struction, and, it is probable, continued under his tuition 
for some years; but, when his father removed to Burgundy, 
as already related, his favourite child was the companion of 
his travels, and his education was completed in that country. 
The court of Burgundy was, at this period, remarkable, 
above most others in Europe, for the patterns of chivalry 
in which it abounded*)*; and young Rhys, by his proficiency 
in the fashionable pursuits of the age, and particularly in 
feats of horsemanship and arms, and other athletic exer- 
cises, soon shone a conspicuous luminary amidst the splen- 
did constellation in which he was placed. His merits, which 
became the subject of general admiration, at length attrac- 

* Dr. Lewis was a native of North Wales, and received his education in 
the University of Padua. 

t The period, to which this observation has reference, could not have been 
very long antecedent to the dismemberment of the Duchy of Burgundy, 
which happened in the year 1477, when part of it was annexed to the throne 
of France, and the remainder was seized by the Germans. 

t2 



276 

ted the personal notice of the Duke, who took him under 
his own immediate protection. 

Rhys soon profited in an eminent degree by the advan- 
tages he now enjoyed, and so much ingratiated himself with 
his patron, who had made him the companion of his only 
son, that he appeared to be in the high road to preferment 
and honour. But this bright promise was destined to be 
nipped in the bud ; for, after he had risen rapidly to the 
rank of captain from that of a private soldier*, the indis- 
cretion of his father, previously noticed, made it necessary 
for him to return in haste to his native country, and it was 
the lot of Rhys to accompany him in his flight. 

In no very long time after this event, Thomas ab Gruff- 
ydd and his two eldest sons died in the manner already de- 
scribed, and Rhys succeeded, in consequence, to the posses- 
sion of his patrimonial estates. His first care, upon being thus 
at full liberty to act for himself, was to make choice of some 
persons, most remarkable for their wisdom or experience, 
upon whose counsel he might rely, as well in the management 
of his private affairs, as in his general deportment in the po- 
litical contests of the times. This measure indicated in Rhys 
a degree of discretion far beyond his years ; and it was his 
good fortune soon to experience the benefit of it. A deep- 
rooted enmity had existed between his father and one Hen- 
ry ab Gwilym, of Court Henry, in Carmarthenshire, who 
was of an ancient and respectable family, and was also dis- 
tinguished by his personal qualities, and the influence he 
possessed in that part of the country. Family feuds 01 
this nature were, formerly, of common occurrence in Wales, 

* It was by his own choice that Rhys was originally placed in a subordi- 
nate rank ; for the Duke would at first have bestowed upon him the command 
of a troop of horse, but he modestly declined it, as too much for his youth 
and inexperience. 



271 

and, owing to the laxity of the laws, were generally pro- 
ductive of the most fatal results. In the present instance, 
there had been many obstinate contests between Thomas 
ab Gruffydd and his adversary; and the persons, whom Rhys 
had selected as his advisers, were naturally apprehensive 
that the quarrel might be continued in the son. For the 
purpose of preventing what could not but prove highly in- 
jurious to the interests of their young protege, they resolved 
upon attempting a reconciliation ; and, with this view, they 
proposed a matrimonial alliance between the two families. 
It fortunately happened that the proposal met on each side 
with the most cordial reception, and Rhys was soon after- 
wards united in marriage with Eva, daughter and coheiress 
of Henry ab Gwilym. Independent of the extinction of 
the old family animosities, which was the natural fruit of 
this auspicious union, it had the effect also, by considerably 
augmenting the property of Rhys, of strengthening his local 
interests in a very essential degree. 

Immediately after his marriage, the subject of this me- 
moir appears to have devoted himself entirely to the arrange- 
ment of his private affairs, and, more especially, of his 
domestic economy, in which he established regulations of 
the most liberal nature, tempered at the same time by a due 
regard to the extent of his resources*. Having thus adopt- 



* Such, his biographer tells us, was the system of hospitality he had adopt- 
ed, that " the gentry did continually flock to his house, as to some acade- 
my, for their civil nurture and education ; by which means his house was so' 
much frequented, and he so well attended, that, wherever he came, in re- 
spect of the greatness of his train, he bare shew rather of a prince than a 
private subject." But, notwithstanding the expense which this liberality 
must necessarily have entailed on him, the writer adds, that his judgment in 
the management of his affairs was so great, that " his hospitality no way 
abated or diminished, shewing the middle way between base avarice and 
vicious prodigality." 



278 

ed a system of living suitable with his rank and the manners 
of the age, he next directed his attention to the condition 
of his countrymen, which stood much in need of ameliora- 
tion. A long series of intestine broils had introduced 
among the lower classes a general contempt of social order 
and all the common decencies of civilized life. Their chief 
enjoyment was centred in such acts of violence as resulted 
from the jealousies and dissensions then prevailing. To 
remove these abuses, and substitute a system of good order 
in their stead, became now the avowed object of Rhys; and 
with this view, he had recourse to the assistance of the 
Bishop of St. David's, one of his chosen friends, who readily 
acquiesced in his views. The worthy prelate began his work 
of improvement by reforming, within his diocese, the ser- 
vice of the established church, which had been, for some 
time before, much neglected. The dissemination of a re- 
ligious spirit throughout the country was the natural con- 
sequence of this prudent measure ; and Rhys beheld with 
pleasure the auspicious accomplishment of the first and 
most important part of his benevolent project. His next 
care was to establish public games and diversions, for the 
purpose of alluring the people from the unsocial and turbu- 
lent occupations in which they had so long indulged. And, 
in order the more readily to induce them to adopt his plan, 
he was frequently in the habit of taking part himself in the 
athletic exercises of the occasion*. 

* The following is the quaint and curious description, which the biogra- 
pher of Rhys ab Thomas gives of bis conduct on this occasion : — * l And, be- 
cause by conversation familiarity is increased, and courtesy engendered, 
they (Rhys and his advisers), in imitation of the ancient law-makers, insti- 
tuted certain festival days, to the end that men should assemble together, 
or entertain public sports ; and places of meeting were appointed, and sum- 
mer-houses erected, where the women, with dancing and other allowable 



279 

By this patriotic and politic conduct, lie ingratiated him- 
self, in a remarkable manner, with his dependants and coun- 
trymen generally. So great, indeed, was his popularity, that 
he was able, according to the statement of his biographer, 
to bring into the field, on any sudden emergency, a force of 
four or five thousand horse, consisting, for the most part, 
of voluntary contributions. The ability to command so large 
a body must, in those troubled times, and particularly with 
reference to the feudal and independent mode of warfare 
then in use, have rendered his friendship as desirable as his 
hostility must have been dangerous. Nor were the tribu- 
tary supplies of his countrymen confined to those of a mere 
military nature ; they also forced upon his acceptance por- 
tions of land to a considerable extent, which, when added 
to his previous possessions, rendered him the most powerful 
territorial proprietor in that part of the Principality*. 

Such was the prosperous condition of the aifairs of Rhys 
ab Thomas, when the Duke of Buckingham and others had 
entered into a conspiracy for dethroning Richard III. and 
placing the crown on the head of the Earl of Richmond. 

recreations, passed the time, and the men exercised all manly actions, as 
running, quoiting, leaping, wrestling, and the like; among whom this young 
Rhys ever made one, not refusing sometimes to decline his gravity, and to 
dance among his neighbours, but that was seldom, and then too with a de- 
cent and comely behaviour." It is hardly necessary to mention, that neither 
in this extract, nor in those in the preceding note, is the orthography of the 
original observed. 

* The portions of land, here alluded to, were given generally in exchange 
for horses, with which Rhys supplied all those who attached themselves to 
him. The land, as being the donation of so many different people, was 
necessarily widely scattered, and often selected from the midst of larger 
estates. It is possible that this custom prevailed in other instances, as there 
still exists, in some parts of South Wales, a remarkable intermixture of pro- 
perty^ where isolated patches of land frequently belong to persons having no 
other property within several miles of them. 



280 

Buckingham, it is well known, had been rewarded for his 
services to Richard, whom he had been mainly instrumen- 
tal in raising to his kingly dignity, with several confiscated 
estates in the Marches of South Wales, as well as with a 
considerable authority in those parts. Some time previous 
to his formation of the plot for the overthrow of his former 
master, he had, by some arbitrary assumption of power, 
given deep offence to Rhys ab Thomas, between whose 
family and the Duke there had existed before a serious mis- 
understanding, which, it is probable, the extreme popular- 
ity of Rhys, by rendering him an object of jealousy to this 
ambitious nobleman, had tended, on his part at least, ma- 
terially to enhance. When his scheme, however, for the 
introduction of Richmond, then in France, to the English 
throne, was nearly ripe for execution, he felt that a recon- 
ciliation with Rhys would be almost indispensable to its 
success. For, as there was no part of the English coast on 
which the new monarch could securely land, it remained 
that his only chance of an unobstructed disembarkation 
would be in Wales. Yet, as long as Rhys continued true 
to the reigning king, this appeared impossible: it, there- 
fore, formed one of Buckingham's first objects to gain over 
that individual to his cause. The accomplishment of this 
desirable result was, however, likely to be attended with 
much difficulty; for not only did the still existing enmity 
between Rhys and the Duke present a formidable impedi- 
ment, but the former had, about this time, renewed to Rich- 
ard the assurance of his loyalty, in terms the most earnest 
and unequivocal. 

As soon as the king was apprised of the full extent and 
design of Buckingham's conspiracy, he was seized with the 
apprehensions so natural to his peculiar situation, and had 
resort to every expedient to ward off the impending danger. 



281 

From those, whose power placed them above the influence 
of his bribes or menaces, he was content to exact a new 
pledge of their fidelity and attachment. Among this num- 
ber was the subject of the present memoir, from whom Rich- 
ard directed his Commissioners in South Wales to take a 
fresh oath of allegiance, and, at the same time, to require 
his only son as a hostage for its faithful performance. Rhys 
complied with the first part of the condition, but could not 
consent to part with his child, then only in his fifth year. 
He, accordingly, wrote a letter to the king, to excuse a com- 
pliance with his wishes in this respect, urging the tender 
age of the boy, with all those other arguments, which the 
affection of a parent for an only son may be supposed to 
supply. The application, in all probability, had the desired 
effect ; for it does not appear that Richard persisted in the 
exaction of this stipulation, and which he, perhaps, consi- 
dered the less necessary, in consequence of the solemn pro- 
testations of loyalty conveyed by Rhys's letter, in which the 
writer declared, with reference to the apprehended invasion 
by the Earl of Richmond, that " whoever, ill affected to 
the state, should dare to land in those parts of Wales, where 
he had any employment under his Majesty, must resolve 
with himself to make his entrance and irruption over his 
body"*. 

The pledge, thus made by Rhys, seemed by no means 
calculated to prepare him for giving a favourable reception 
to the overtures of the Duke of Buckingham, even if he 
had not been influenced by his personal dislike of that no- 
bleman. The Duke, however, who was, most probably, 
aware of the obstacles he should have to encounter, employ- 

* The letter, here alluded to, is dated "Carmarthen Castle, 1484," the 
year preceding the landing of the Earl of Richmond, at Milford. 



282 

ed, as his mediator on the occasion, a person who, of all 
others, was most likely to bring the affair to a successful 
issue. This was Dr. Lewis, Rhys's former tutor, whom 
the Countess of Richmond, mother of Henry VII.,. had se- 
lected as her confidential agent in those intrigues which 
preceded the establishment of her son on the English throne. 
The Doctor found his old pupil at his castle of Abermarlais, 
on the eve of departing for Brecon, for the purpose of bring- 
ing the inveterate quarrel between Buckingham and him- 
self to a decision, by an appeal to arms, for which he had 
made formidable preparations. It was scarcely possible for 
the negotiator to have arrived at a more inauspicious junc- 
ture ; yet, such was his address, or the influence he pos- 
sessed over Rhys, that, after a long interview, in the course 
of which he apprised him of the plans in agitation for the 
public welfare, and urged him, on this account, to refrain, 
at least, from his hostile intentions, he so far succeeded as 
to prevail upon Rhys even to assent to a reconciliation with 
the Duke. The parties soon afterwards met for the pur- 
pose, and the differences, that had existed, were adjusted 
with apparent sincerity and satisfaction. 

The main point, however, still remained to be accom- 
plished. Although the old variance between Buckingham 
and Rhys was thus terminated, it was not as yet succeeded 
by any cordial alliance ; and the Duke still felt, that, with- 
out his new friend's active co-operation, the success of his 
project would be extremely doubtful. Dr. Lewis was, ac- 
cordingly, instructed to proceed in the work he had so 
happily begun; but this zealous mediator, unwilling to 
trust entirely to his own powers, communicated the design 
to the Bishop of St. David's* and one or two others, whom 

* It does not exactly appear who filled the See of St. David's at the 



283 

Rhys, as already noticed, had selected as his confidential 
advisers, and solicited their aid in the task he had under- 
taken. To this they readily assented, and availed them- 
selves of an occasion to make their first effort, when Rhys 
was reflecting with some feelings of dissatisfaction on the 
letter he had written to Richard, and which, he began to 
fear, might, by the sinister interpretation of the tyrant, be 
converted to his injury, if not to his destruction. While 
engaged in this train of thought, he was visited by the 
Bishop and his companions, who spared no argument to 
induce him to espouse the politics of Buckingham, and be- 
come an instrument for the establishment of Richmond 
upon the throne. For a long time, however, Rhys con- 
tinued firm against all their solicitations, to which his 
only answer was, that, however criminal the conduct of 
Richard, he was still his lawful, or, at least, his actual so- 
vereign, and to whom he was bound not only by the gene- 
ral allegiance of all subjects to their prince, but, in his 
case, by the solemn oath he had so recently taken. His 
spiritual adviser, after endeavouring in vain to overcome 
these scruples by a variety of exhortations, at length un- 
dertook to absolve him from his rash vow, if he should 
still feel conscientiously bound to adhere to it ; and, with 
respect to that part of his letter to the king, in which he 
declared, that no disaffected person should enter the coun- 
try without making a passage over his body, the zealous 
prelate suggested, that it would be no degradation, in such 
a case, for him to redeem his pledge by prostrating him- 

pai ticular period alluded to. The biographer of Rhys calls him John ; but 
the only bishops of that name, about the time in question, were John De- 
labere, during the reign of Henry VI. and John Morgan, who succeeded 
to the see in 1503. 



284 

self before the new monarch, and thus allow him literally 
to march over his body to the throne, to which he was the 
undoubted and legitimate heir. 

By such accommodating sophistry did Rhys's coun- 
sellors attempt to bring him over to their cause ; but they 
still failed in immediately producing the desired result. 
Although their persuasions had obviously shaken his 
loyalty to Richard, he could not be induced all at once to 
abandon the imagined duty, which his oath had imposed 
upon him. However, after some farther deliberation, he 
conceived, that to espouse the cause of the Earl of Rich- 
mond would be most beneficial to the interests of his 
country, and resolved, accordingly, that his own private 
scruples should give way to the public good. He had 
scarcely arrived at this determination, before he received 
intelligence of the defeat and death of the Duke of Buck- 
ingham in his rash and ill-concerted enterprise near Glou- 
cester. For a moment he seemed to regard this blow as 
fatal to the counsels he had embraced, but, having once 
taken a bold and decided part, he deemed it unbecoming 
his character to renounce it. So, notwithstanding that 
the same friends, who had before urged him to his present 
conduct, strove now, with a capricious inconstancy, to per- 
suade him to the adoption of opposite measures*, he man- 
fully rejected their temporizing counsels, and finally deter- 
mined to adhere to those he had already espoused. 

* Upon this occasion, although the greatest part of his friends advised 
him to remain faithful to Richard, there were not wanting others who en- 
deavoured to prevail upon him to act a double part, and so preserve his life 
by the sacrifice of his honour. But such counsels he at once rejected. 
" 'Tis true," his biographer tells us, " safety and honour were ever both of 
them the objects of Rhys ab Thomas's care, yet, seeing he was now to 
make trial for himself, he determined rather to jeopardize his safety than 
shipwreck his honour." 



285 

In the resolution he had thus taken he was soon con- 
firmed, beyond the power of retreating, by letters, which 
arrived from the Earl of Richmond himself, soliciting his 
friendship and aid in the enterprise in which he was about 
to embark, and apprising him of his intention to land on 
the Welsh coast*. The communication was, as may be 
presumed, most cordially received ; and, in the answer 
Rhys returned, he assured the prince of the alacrity, with 
which he embraced his cause, and of the vigorous prepara- 
tions he was making to serve him. He also urged him to 
lose no time in carrying his plans into execution. The 
die was now cast, and Rhys directed his whole attention 
to the disciplining of his tenants and other dependants, and 
making the various military arrangements necessary to the 
occasion. These proceedings, it will be naturally imagined, 
did not escape the penetrating observation of Richard ; 
but, as it does not appear that he made any remonstrance 
upon the subject, it is probable that he ascribed the acti- 
vity of Rhys to a zeal in his own service, and to a desire to 
be prepared against the menaced invasion by Richmond, 
Nor is it at all unlikely, that Rhys himself gave a counte- 
nance to the king's delusion, the more effectually to pro- 
mote the operations he had in viewf. It is certain, at least, 



* The letters, thus sent by the Earl of Richmond, were written by him 
at the instigation of his mother, who had sent over one Hugh Conway to 
Brittany for the purpose. The Countess, being apprised by Dr. Lewis of 
the indecision of Rhys, thought this would be the most effectual means of 
turning the scale in her favour. She accordingly, as the writer already 
quoted observes, " gave instructions for advising her sou speedily to write 
unto the said Rhys, wishing him withal to season his compliments with 
large promises of honour." And it is probable, that the Earl did not omit 
this part of his task ; nor are we justified in supposing, that Rhys was, on 
the other hand, inaccessible to the influence of such overtures. 

f During the time that Rhys was taking the measures here alluded to for 



286 

that, when Henry landed, Rhys had prosecuted his schemes 
with so much dexterity and effect, that he found himself at 
the head of a well appointed force of more than two thou- 
sand horse, consisting of his own immediate dependants, to- 
gether with a numerous train of followers, many of them 
individuals of rank and distinction from all parts of the 
Principality. The Welsh indeed hailed the arrival of 
Richmond on their shores with peculiar enthusiasm, from 
a notion that he was, in some respect, to be regarded as 
their countryman*. And it is hardly to be doubted, that 
Rhys ab Thomas availed himself of every opportunity to 
turn this popular feeling to the best account. 

Henry VII., it is known, landed at Milford in Pembroke- 
shire on the seventh of August, 1485, when Rhys ab Tho- 
mas was among the foremost to welcome him. And, that 
he might not depart from the strict letter of his solemn as- 
surance to Richard, he is reported to have fallen down be- 
fore the new monarch, in order to allow him to march over 
his bodyf. Whether we be justified or not in giving 
credit to the account transmitted to us of this Jesuitical 
conduct, it is certain that Rhys, on his first interview with 

the support of Richmond, Richard lay with his army at Nottingham, and 
seems to have placed implicit reliance on his Welsh subjects, especially Rhys 
ab Thomas and Sir Walter Herbert, son of the first Earl of Pembroke of that 
name, who, he observed, would soon defeat any attempt on the part of 
Henry. So incorrect was the king's information even on points thus essen- 
tially connected with the security of his throne. 

* Henry VII. was the son of Edmund, Earl of Richmond, half brother 
of Henry VI., and son of Owen Tudor, a Welshman, by Catherine, widow 
of Henry V. Hence his popularity among the natives of Wales. 

f Such is the statement of his biographer ; but the tradition of the country 
is somewhat different. It is said, that he did not literally permit Henry to 
stride over his body, but that he went under the arch of a small bridge, over 
which the Earl's passage lay, and there remained until Henry had crossed it. 



287 

Henry, made him a public tender of his services, and those 
of his companions in arms, and exhorted him to afford 
them an immediate opportunity of proving by their actions 
the sincerity of their professions. 

This opportunity, as the reader knows, was not long de- 
layed. For, after the French troops that accompanied 
the Earl of Richmond, had been supplied with the arms 
and equipments, of which they stood so much in need, at 
the expense, for the most part, of Rhys ab Thomas*, the 
united force marched onwards towards Shrewsbury. The 
route assigned to Rhys was by Carmarthen ; and persons 
were employed to precede him on his march, to apprise the 
country, through which he was to pass, of the part he had 
espoused. And so great was his popularity, that, upon his 
arrival at Brecon, his followers had increased to such a 
degree, that he was under the necessity of making a selec- 
tion from the number, with which he again joined the Earl 
of Richmond. The reception he experienced from Henry 
was so much the more cordial, in consequence of some sus- 
picions, that had been circulated during their separation 
respecting the sincerity of Rhys's intentions. It had been 
even rumoured, that, while thus appearing to support the 
interests of Richmond, he was in fact levying forces for the 
secret purpose of opposing his progress. His reappear- 
ance, therefore, in the ranks of the Earl, attended by a 

* It appears from the report of Rhys's biographer, that the French troops, 
which came over with Richmond on this occasion, " wanted both neces- 
sary furniture of arms and other munition, besides that they were very raw 
and ignorant in shooting, handling of their weapcus, and discharging the or- 
dinary duty of soldiers ;' ; and that Rhys "furnished them with all such 
things as he could spare, without the damage of his own particular, though 
in heart he wished them back again in Fiance, there being not one man of 
quality among them to endear future ages to make mention either of his 
name or service." 



288 

considerable accession of troops, not only dispelled all the 
doubts the latter had entertained, but served to animate 
him with new hopes as to the event of his enterprise. 

The battle of Bosworth, which decided the fate of 
Richard, and placed the crown on the head of his adver- 
sary, speedily followed these events*. In that engagement 
Rhys ab Thomas is recorded to have performed prodigies 
of heroism ; and his biographer even ascribes to him the 
honour of having, by his own hand, terminated the career 
of the tyrant*)-. But, without intending to insist on the 
justice of his claim to such a distinction, it is certain, that 
he and his brave countrymen had a very material share in 
the triumph of that important day. Of this the honours, 
immediately afterwards conferred upon him by Henry, are 
a sufficient proof. He was not only knighted upon the field 
of battle, but received also the appointment of the King's 
Justiciary and Chief Governor in South Wales, with full 
power to reform the abuses then prevalent there. He 
was, in addition, made Constable and Lieutenant of Bre- 
con, Chamberlain of the counties of Carmarthen and Car- 
digan, and Seneschal of the lordship of Buallt. These 
appointments, from a monarch so sparing of his favours as 
Henry, denote the high estimation in which the services 
of Rhys were regarded. As soon as he received them he 
departed for Wales, where he remained about two years, 
discharging his high office of Justiciary, as will be seen, 
with credit to himself, and particular benefit to his country. 

* It was fought on the 22nd of August, 1485, only a fortnight after Rich- 
mond's disembarkation. 

t This is related by the biographer of Rhys, upon the credit of a Welsh 
tradition, which, however, wants the corroboration of less interested autho- 
rity. 



289 

It Las already been noticed that the state of society in 
Wales, at this period, was extremely disturbed. The wise 
regulations of Rhys, aided by the exertions of the Bishop 
of St. David's, had tended, indeed, in some degree, to mi- 
tigate the evil. But, although the general insubordination 
had been partially corrected, the cause still remained, and 
could only be eradicated by far more vigorous measures 
than any that had yet been adopted. During the absence 
of Rhys in the military services already noticed, circum- 
stances had likewise occurred to excite the country into a 
new ferment. Rhys, upon departing with the Earl of 
Richmond, had entrusted his two younger brothers with a 
considerable armed force, both for the purpose of protect- 
ing his son, whose safety, he naturally presumed, might be 
compromised in the approaching contest, as well as for se- 
curing the public tranquillity. Scarcely, however, had he 
quitted his native soil, before the measure, he had thus pru- 
dently adopted, seemed to threaten consequences directly 
opposite to what were anticipated. The soldiers, thus 
freed from the controul of their former master, broke out 
into the wildest disorder, and materially aggravated the 
feuds, which they had been designed to suppress. The 
general mass of the people, too, no longer influenced by the 
presence of their natural lord, revived the jealousies and 
animosities, which had been recently suspended, and a state 
of civil anarchy was, as may be imagined, the necessary re- 
sult. 

Such was the unpromising aspect of affairs in South 
Wales, when Rhys returned loaded with honours and 
power to exercise the important functions with which the 
new king had invested him. It required, as will be ad- 
mitted, all his influence and address to compose the storm, 
that had thus gathered in his absence ; and it may be in- 



290 

ferred, from the very scanty notices which his biographer 
has supplied of his conduct on this occasion, that his usual 
prudence did not forsake him*. Acting as well from his na- 
tural disposition, as from his intimate knowledge of the 
character of his countrymen, he began by the adoption of 
the mildest and most conciliatory measures, proceeding 
afterwards to others of a more rigorous nature, and re- 
sorting, in extreme cases only, to the last severity of the 
law, nor even then without considerable repugnancef . By 
this course of justice, so seasonably tempered with mercy, 
he succeeded in allaying the feuds and dissensions, under 
which the country had so long suffered, and was rewarded 
with the general esteem for the public good he had thus 
been the means of accomplishing. 

Rhys ab Thomas, now elevated to his equestrian dignity 
of Sir Rhys, had been thus beneficially engaged for nearly 
two years, when he was summoned from his honourable re- 
treat by the political events that were then passing in Eng- 
land, in the insurrection of Lord Lovell and the StafFords, 
and the imposture of Simnel. The speedy suppression of 
the rebellion in the first instance, however, deprived him of 
any opportunity of signalizing himself, and he had only 
time to advance a part of the way towards the expected 
scene of action, at the head of five hundred horse, which 
he had hastily raised for the occasion. He had not long 
returned home before his services were again required, and 

* It appears from several hints, thrown out by the writer of Rhys's Life, 
that he had an intention of writing also the history of his civil administration. 
It may be too late to ascertain, whether the intention was ever executed : 
most probably it was not, as such a work must, ere this, have been known, 
from its interesting connexion with the manners of Wales in the times to 
which it would have related. 

f His biographer tells us that he always pronounced the sentence of death 
vocemagis leniter sezerct quam rabidd. 



291 

we find him engaged in the battle of Stoke against SimneR 
Such was the suddenness of the summons he received upon 
this occasion, that he was obliged to go unattended. The 
king, in consequence, placed him at the head of a body of 
English horse, with which he appears to have distinguished 
himself in a remarkable manner, giving eminent proofs of 
his valour and prowess. He was wounded in this battle, 
and was otherwise in imminent peril, from which, according 
to his biographer, he was narrowly rescued by the timely 
assistance of the Earl of Shrewsbury f. 

In no great while after this, Sir Rhys accompanied 
Henry in his abortive expedition against France, where it 
does not appear he had any opportunity of signalizing him- 
self. We may collect, however, from Lord Bacon's ac« 
counts of the events of the campaign, that Sir Rhys and 
his followers were remarkable for their military appearance 
and disciplinej. Although Henry failed in his designs of 

* This battle was fought on the 6th of June, 148iT. 

f It is said of Sir Rhys, in the memoir of him so often quoted, that " on 
this day only he fought for his life, elsewhere for his honour, either to give 
testimony ot his bravery to his new companions, or upon a hurt received by 
an Irish dart from the hand of a common soldier, while he was in the heat 
of a single combat witli the Earl of Kildare;" and that, " being somewhat 
transported with fury, and further carried than wisdom might give him cora s 
mission, he fell from fighting with one to fight with many." And we learn 
moreover from the same authority, that, being inspired with new courage 
npon the appearance of the Earl of Shrewsbury, lt he flew at his enemies, 
doing such slaughter amongst them, and performing such deeds of arms, as 
contributed much to that day's victory." It is added by the biographer, 
that Sir Rhys was rallied upon this occasion by the king, who asked him 
" whether was belter eating leeks in Wales, or shamrocks among the Irish?'' 
alluding to the number of the latter nation that were engaged, in the battle 
of Stoke, on the side of the rebels. To this Rhys answered, that " both 
were but coarse fare, yet either would seem a feast with such a companion," 
pointing to the Earl of Shrewsbury." 

t Lord Bacon, after enumerating the several persons of distinction, that 

v2 



292 

territorial conquest, it is known that he succeeded in filling 
his coffers, by the contributions which he exacted from 
the inhabitants of Brittany ; and, out of the treasure thus 
amassed, he made presents to some of his chief commanders. 
Sir Rhys among the number was not forgotten. The king 
offered him an annual pension of two hundred marks, which 
was however rejected, either owing to the supposed inade- 
quacy of the reward, or from that love of independence, 
by which Sir Rhys seems ever to have been actuated*. 

When the kingdom was disturbed by the rebellion con- 
sequent on the imposture of Perkin Warbeck, Sir Rhys, 
among other faithful subjects of the king, was again called 
into action. If his biographer be entitled to credit, he was 
engaged against the insurgents in the battle of Blackheath 
at the head of fifteen hundred horsey. And such, as re- 



accompanied the king on this expedition, says, " and amongst them was 
Richard Thomas" (manifestly a mistake for Rhys ab Thomas) " much no- 
ted for the brave troops that he brought out of Wales." Life of Henry VIL 
p. 108. See also Harding's Chronicle, p. 122. 

* The historian of Sir Rhys's life relates, that, when the pension alluded 
to was offered, Sir Rhys " refused it with some indignation, telling the 
messenger, that, if his master intended to relieve his wants, he had sent 
him too little, if to corrupt his mind, or stagger his fidelity, his kingdom 
would not be enough." However well this may sound, it may be fairly as- 
sumed, that, whatever were Sir Rhys's sentiments on the occasion, he did 
not express them in such language. When Henry tendered him a token, 
however inadequate, of the sense in which he regarded his services, he 
never could have meant to " corrupt his mind/' or undermine his loyalty. 
The fact is, that the biographer, in imitation of some ancient historians, has 
thought it occasionally necessary to put fine speeches into the mouth of the 
individual, whose exploits he is narrating — 

" dabiturque licentia sumta pudenter." 

t The battle of Blackheath was fought on the 22nd of June, 1497. The 
English historians, it is true, make no mention of Sir Rhys having been pre- 
sent; but, as many other persons of distinction must have passed unnoticed, 
this circumstance alone can be of no weight. 



293 

ported, was his fearless and intrepid conduct on the field, 
that he had two horses killed under him ; but, mounting a 
third, he made a prisoner of Lord Audley, who was at the 
head of the rebel force. For this exploit, says the histo- 
rian of his life, " the king gave him, by way of reward, the 
goods of the said lord, and, withal, for his more honour, 
created him banneret on the field, having then many wounds 
about him"*. 

The public tranquillity that marked the remainder of 
Henry's reign, afforded Sir Rhys no farther military em- 
ployment, and he appears, accordingly, during the whole 
period, to have confined himself to the discharge of his 
magisterial duties in South Wales. And such satisfaction 
had his administration given to the king, that, in 1 506, he 
conferred on him the order of the garterf, together with the 
lordship of Narberth in Pembrokeshire J. His biographer 

* This agrees with what Bacon relates of the conduct of the king after 
the battle of Blackheath. " And for matter of liberality," says the histo- 
rian, " he did, by open edict, give the goods of all the prisoners unto those 
that had taken them, either to take them in kind, or compound for them 
as they could."— Life of Henry VII. , p. 171. The exploit, for which Sir 
Rhys ab Thomas was thus rewarded, is particularly mentioned in the peti- 
tion of Rhys ab Gruffydd, his grandson, who was beheaded in the reign of 
Henry VIII., in enumerating the loyal services of his ancestors. There can 
therefore be little doubt of its authenticity, notwithstanding the silence of 
English writers respecting it. 

t Fuller, in his u Worthies/' in allusion to the honour bestowed on Sir 
Rhys on this occasion, says — " The thrifty king, according to his cheap 
course of remuneration, (rewarding church-men with church preferment and 
soldiers with honour) afterwards made him a knight of the order, and well 
might he give Kim a garter, by whose effectual help he had recovered a 
crown." 

% This lordship had before been in the family of Sir Rhys. It belonged 
to his grandfather, the celebrated Gruffydd ab Nicholas, by whom it was 
conveyed to his youngest son, Owain ab Gruffydd, from whom it appears, 
by some unexplained means, to have passed to the crown. Upon the at- 



294 

even adds, that he received the offer of a peerage, which 
he refused upon the ground that the honour of knighthood 
was more congenial with the profession of arms, and that, 
if his descendants should be ambitious of any higher dig- 
nity, they might exert themselves to obtain it, as he had 
done for the acquisition of his*. 

In the year following his accession to this new mark of 
his sovereign's favour, Sir Rhys instituted a public festival 
in South Wales, in commemoration of the anniversary of 
St. George, which was, at the same time, celebrated at 
court with great pomp. But, the duties of Sir Rhys's of- 
fice not allowing him to attend, he adopted this method of 
doing honour to the occasion. The festival, which continued 
for five days, was conducted on the most munificent scale, 
embracing all the chivalrous exercises of the age, with a 
variety of public feasts and entertainments. Many indivi- 
duals of rank and distinction from all parts of Wales, and 
especially such as had acquired any military celebrity, were 
present at the ceremony; and the general harmony that 
prevailed, afforded another proof of the high esteem in 
which Sir Rhys was held by his countrymen^. 



iainder of Rhys ab Gruffydd, alluded to in the preceding note, this lordship, 
with other property, reverted, by forfeiture, to the crown, and never re- 
turned to the family of Sir Rhys ab Thomas. 

* It has already been incidentally noticed, that this family has since been 
ennobled. The peerage was created in the year 1780, by the title of 
Baron Dinevor, of Diuevor Castle in the county of Carmarthen. The 
Right Hon. George Talbot Rice is the present inheritor of the honour. Rhys 
ab Gruffydd is related to have refused the Earldom of Es?cx, which refusal, 
as well as his assumption of the name of Fitzurien, formed one of Henry's 
charges against him. 

f The account of these festivities is given by Sir Rhys's biographer at 
great length, and with considerable minuteness ; and it is added, that the 
affair was so gratifying to the king, that '* he gave Sir Rhys many thanks 
the year following, when he came to give hisattendance at court." The 



295 

Upon the accession of Henry VIII. in 1509, Sir Rhys 
ab Thomas, at that time in his sixtieth year, was confirmed 
in the important and responsible situation he had filled un- 
der the late king. He appears, indeed, to have grown into 
favour with the new monarch in a manner so sudden and 
remarkable, that it is only to be explained by the respect 
in which he had been held by his father. Nor was it only 
in his civil capacity that Sir Rhys experienced the coun- 
tenance of Henry VIII. : he accompanied him, at his 
special command, in his campaign in France, where he 
enjoyed several opportunities of displaying his personal 
prowess, especially in the battle of Therouenne, and at the 
siege of Tournay. And, notwithstanding the barren result of 
this expedition, both he and his son* were, on their return, 
honoured with new marks of the royal favour, by being ap- 
pointed respectively Seneschal and Chancellor of the lord- 
ships of Haverfordwest and Rouse ; which, with the offices 
already in the possession of Sir Rhys, constituted almost 
all the honours the crown had to bestow in that part of the 
kingdom. 

The remainder of Sir Rhys's life appears to have been 
entirely devoted to the enjoyment of that otium cum digni- 
tate, to which his long and meritorious services had so 
justly entitled him. He resided altogether at the Castle 
of Carew in Pembrokeshire, in the vicinity of the Bishop 
of St. David's, with whom he was on terms of the most 
intimate friendship^ His chief amusement during this 

tournament, held by Sir Rhys at Carew Castle on this occasion, is said to 
have been the only one ever celebrated in Wales. 

* His son had been previously knighted— at least he is called Sir 
Gruffydd ab Rhys by the writer of his father's life. 

t During the last four years of Sir Rhys's life the see of St. David's was 
filled by Dr. Richard Rawlins, who succeeded Bishop Vaughan. 



296 

period, even at his advanced age, was horsemanship, to 
which he had been, during his whole life, particularly at- 
tached ; and, if in any part of his expenses he might be said 
to be at all profuse, it was in what related to his stables, 
which were always stocked with animals of the rarest breed 
and most approved quality*. Recreations of the nature 
alluded to, united with the general temperance and regu- 
larity of his living, and an habitual exercise of his religious 
duties, communicated to his latter days a degree of enviable 
serenity ; and a gradual and almost imperceptible decay 
smoothed his passage to his last home. His death took 
place in the year 1527, in the seventy-sixth year of his age ; 
and the chasm, which it made in society, was not to be 
easily filled. Full of years and of honours, he left behind 
him a reputation, which long continued the pride and de- 
light of his country. His remains were deposited in St. 
Peter's Church in Carmarthen, where a stately monument 
was reared to his memory f. 

Sir Rhys ab Thomas was twice married. His first wife 
has already been noticed : by her he had only one son, Sir 
GrufFydd ab Rhys, whose birth she did not long survive. 
Sir GrufFydd, who has before been mentioned in the course 
of this memoir, died in the lifetime of his father, leaving a 
son, who became the sole legal heir of his grandfather's 
large possessions^. Sir Rhys took for his second wife 



* " His numerous stalls," says his biographer, "were ever full of horses of 
the rarest breed, which he often had drawn out in martial array, as if the 
enemy were at hand, it being his maxim, that peace was the best season to 
provide for war ; so that, when it came, it found him ready and prepared to 
meet it." 

t This monument has been for more than a century in a state of decay, 
owing to the perishable quality of the stone employed in its erection ; and 
no vestiges of the original inscription can now be discovered. 

t This grandson is the person who has been already alluded to as 



297 

Janet Matthews, who was of an old and reputable family in 
Glamorganshire* ; but there was no fruit of this union. 
However, although Sir Rhys's matrimonial alliances did 
not tend much to the increase of his family, his illegitimate 
issue was numerous ; and it is to be recorded to his credit, 
that he made ample provision for all, and was at pains to 
marry his daughters into the most respectable families*]-. 

After what has transpired in the preceding notices re- 
specting the character of Sir Rhys ab Thomas, it becomes 
almost superfluous to enter here into any general summary 
of his more remarkable qualities. It has been seen, that he 
was distinguished by a remarkable proficiency in the accom- 
plishments of the times, as well as by most of those virtues, 
which served to adorn the public situation it was his lot to 
fill. He was endowed at once with valour and prudence 
in an eminent degree ; and the generosity of his disposition 
was sufficiently conspicuous in his conduct towards his de- 



having suffered decapitation in the reign of Henry VIII., four years only 
after the death of his grandfather, at the early age of twenty-three, upon a 
real or imaginary charge of High Treason. The indictment, with his an- 
swers thereto, may be seen in the Cambrian Register, vol. ii. p. 270. 

* Such is the account given by the writer of his life, published in the 
Cambrian Register; but, among the few brief notices of him in Collins '«. 
"Prfffljrfl (.vol., T^lUJli fi^fi) it is stated, that he married, for his second wife, 
Elizabeth, sister to William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke. And this, it is 
added, appears from a monument in the chapel of St. Donat's, Glamorgan- 
shire, in memory of Thomas Stradling, Esq. son of Sir H. Stradling, 
Knight, who died at Cardiff, 1480, whose widow, the lady in question, be- 
came the wife of Sir Rhys ab Thomas, and was buried with him in Carmar- 
then. 

f One was married to Lewis Sutton, Esq. of Haythog in Pembrokeshire, 
and another to Henry Wirriott, of Orielton, Esq. whose daughter and sole 
heiress married Sir Hugh Owen, of Bodowen in Anglesey, ancestor of the 
present Sir John Owen of Orielton. The sons too intermarried with some 
of the first families in South Wales, where their descendants still remain. 






298 

pendants and in his general hospitality. Nor ought the 
wisdom of his measures, while he was entrusted with the 
government of South Wales, to be overlooked : the suc- 
cessful issue of his exertions to reconcile and allay the jar- 
ring feuds of his countrymen, denotes no common union of 
talent and energy, while the popularity which he retained 
to the last, bears abundant testimony to the general mild- 
ness and equity of his administration. Of him, in a word, 
it might truly be said, in the language of the poet — 

And he was once the glory of his age, 
Disinterested, just, with every virtue 
Of civil life adorned — in arms excelling. 

The voice of the contemporary muse of Wales is, as might 
be expected, loud in his praise ; and the more sober testi- 
mony of tradition still lives to perpetuate his honourable 
reputation. 



299 



HUMPHREY LLWYD. 

The memoirs of literary men, if we may credit the trite re- 
mark so often repeated, present but little to interest the 
great mass of mankind, who, being engaged in the more 
active business of life, can rarely extend their sympathies 
to the retired and unobtrusive pursuits of the scholar. The 
growing lucubrations of the closet, or the gradual develope- 
ment of genius, supply, it is true, but few charms to those, 
whose ideas are never elevated above commercial or mecha- 
nical speculations ; yet we should form but a mean estimate 
of our nature, by assigning to this portion of society the 
most important place in the scale of intellectual worth. 
There exists another and a higher class, whose enjoyments 
are of a more refined character, who can dwell with more 
delight upon the peaceful achievements of learning, than 
upon all the triumphs of the sword, and one of whose 
choicest pleasures it is to count the laurels that genius ga- 
thers along her noiseless but brilliant career. 

The individual, whose life we have now to consider, may 
not indeed be entitled to rank among the most eminent in 
the great republic of letters ; but this must be attributed 
rather to the peculiar nature of his pursuits, than to any de- 
ficiency in his intellectual claims. Literary greatness, like 
every other, is comparative ; and he, who has selected the 
sequestered path, however profound his acquirements, how- 
ever gifted his mind, must not expect to rival the popula- 
rity of those who have travelled, with equal pretensions, 
along the more public road. 

Humphrey Llwyd was born about the year 1527, at Den- 
bigh, in North Wales. His father, Robert Llwyd, was of 



300 

a younger branch of the family of that name, but originally 
called Rosindale, which resided at Foxhall, in the vicinity 
of Denbigh, to which place they came from the north of 
England. Paternally, then, the subject of this memoir was 
of English extraction ; but through the marriage, as it 
would appear, of the first of his ancestors that settled in 
Wales, he claimed his descent also from Einion Evell, a 
person of note in North Wales during the twelfth century*. 
Of Humphrey Llwyd's earliest years we have no account. 
From the first notice that has reached us we find him at 
the University of Oxford, where his name occurs in 1547 
as a commoner of Brasenose College. Here he devoted his 
time chiefly to the study of medicine, which he designed 
for his profession, uniting with it the usual branches of 
academical learning. In 1551, he took his degree of Master 
of Arts ; and there is reason for believing that he had pre- 
viously been admitted into the family of Lord Arundel, at 
that time Chancellor of the University, as his private phy- 
sician. In this capacity, according to a statement he has 
himself given us, he continued for fifteen years ; and during 
the whole of this long period, he tells us, he was entirely es- 
tranged from the use of the Latin tongue, either in speak- 
ing or writing — a circumstance, which deserves to be no- 
ticed, whether we consider the taste of the age, or the sta- 
tion of the individual with whom he residedf. 

* The first of the family that came to Wales appears to have been Foulk 
Rosindale, from whom Foxhall, or Foulk' s Hall, was so called. He mar- 
ried into the family of the Lloyds of Aston, whence, in all probability, his 
descendants derived their name, as well as their extraction from Einion 
Evell. 

f The passage in which H. Llwyd records this curious fact is as follows. 
It forms the commencement of his Letter to Ortelius, concerning the Anti- 
quity of Anglesey. " Antequam ad plenum tua?. epistolae responsum deve- 
niam, hoc preefari libet ; me, postquam bonas litteras vix a limine salutassem, 



301 

It was before his introduction to Lord Arundel, or very 
soon afterwards, that he composed his first work, which in- 
dicates, that astronomical, or, to speak more correctly, per- 
haps, astrological pursuits, had occupied a part of his atten- 
tion at Oxford. The work alluded to is intitled " An Al- 
manack and Calendar, containing the day, hour, and mi- 
nute of the change of the moon for ever, and the sign that 
she is in for these three years, with the names and signs of 
the planets," and many other particulars explained in the 
preface. Although this is stated to have been his first pro- 
duction, the precise time of its appearance is unknown. 
His next work was a translation of the " Judgment of 
Urines," which was printed in London in 1551. The only 
other production of a miscellaneous character, which he 
gave the world, was a version of the " Treasure of Health," 
by Petrus Hispanus, to which he added the " Causes and 
Signs of every Disease," with the " Aphorisms of Hippo- 
crates." All these were in English ; and, although the 
date of the last composition is unknown*, it is to be pre- 
sumed that it was written before he quitted the family of 
Lord Arundel. 

It must have been during the period just alluded to that 
he became acquainted with Lord Lumley, whose sister he 
afterwards married. He collected for his lordship many 
curious works, which now form a part of the library in the 
British Museum. 

Upon leaving Lord Arundel's family, probably about 

meipsum in familiam illustrissimi principis coraitis Arundelii inseruisse, ibi- 
que hos quindecim annos continuos inansisse, ubi nee Latin& loqnendi nee 
scribendi toto hoc tempore aliqua mini concessa fnit opportunitas, nude 
contigit mihi Latini sermonis elegantiam servare non potuisse." 

* It was first published in London, in 8vo, lo85, some years after the au- 
thor's death. 



302 

the year 1563, he adopted the resolution of pursuing his 
profession at his native place, and accordingly retired to 
Denbigh. His residence there was within the walls of the 
castle ; and at this time, there is every reason to suppose, 
his attention was first confined to the study of the history 
and antiquities of his native country, which an incident, to be 
noticed in the sequel, induced him afterwards more parti- 
cularly to cultivate. Much of his leisure time, however, 
was dedicated to the charms of music, to which he appears 
to have been particularly attached ; and it is therefore pro- 
bable he had attained some proficiency in the art. 

The rank he filled in society at this period, and the re- 
spect in which he was held by his fellow-townsmen, are to 
be coEected from the fact of his having been chosen to re- 
present the borough of Denbigh in Parliament. His duties 
as a senator necessarily occasioned him to reside much in 
London, which must also have been frequently his place of 
abode while living with Lord Arundel. In the capital, it is 
reasonable to presume, he contracted an intimacy with many 
individuals then eminent in the literary world. Among 
these was Ortelius, the celebrated geographer, who was at 
the time on his travels in England*. It was, most proba- 
bly, his acquaintance with this person, from the congeni- 
ality of their literary pursuits, that communicated a new 
impulse to his cultivation of that branch of antiquarian 
learning in which he so much excelled. Ortelius was on 
the eve of publishing his " Ancient Geography," and 
Llwyd supplied him with maps of England and Wales for 



* Abraham Ortelius wrs born at Antwerp in 1527, and was so celebrated 
for his geographical knowledge, as to have been designated by his cotem- 
poraries, the Ptolemy of the age. His chief work is the " Theatrum Orbis," 
in folio, which procured for him the situation of geographer to Philip II. of 
Spain. He died in 1598. 



303 

its illustration, accompanied by manuscript copies of two of 
his Latin works on British antiquities, and which he dedi- 
cated to him, in return, as it would appear, for a " Descrip- 
tion of Asia," which he had previously received from Orte- 
lius*. The friendship that thus subsisted between them, 
though but of short duration, seems to have been particu- 
larly ardent, and was terminated only by the death of Llwyd, 
who, in one of his dedications alluded to, written but a short 
time before his dissolution, styles the individual to whom it 
is addressed, his " dearly beloved Ortelius." 

Although it was only in his latter years that he directed 
his whole attention to the study and illustration of our na- 
tional history, he had, while residing with Lord Arundel, 
written an English work on the subject, which has since 
been published under the title of " The Historie of Cam- 
bria," and which is, in a great measure, a translation of an 
old work in the Welsh language. A copy of this " His- 
toric," under a different title, may be seen among the Cot- 
ton MSS, in the British Museum, and by which it appears, 
that it was written in the year 1559, about four years be- 
fore the author had fixed his abode at Denbighf . Of the 
two Latin productions above alluded to as being dedicated 
to Ortelius, the first in chronological order is a short treatise 
u De Mona Druidum Insula antiquitate suae restituta, et de 
Armentario Romano," and the other is entitled " Commert- 



* This appears from his dedication to the Description of Britain. 

f The Cotton MS., here alluded to, is marked " Caligula A. 6." and is 
entitled " Chronicon Walliae k rege Cadwaladero usque ad A. D. 1294." This 
has been represented as a distinct production in some of the notices re- 
specting H. Llwyd ; but, upon a comparison of it with the printed work, 
there appears little or no variation, beyond what the editor of the latter 
has since supplied. It is subscribed " At London, 17th July, 1559— By 
Huraffrey Lloyd," and may be the hand-writing of the author himself. 



304 

tarioli Descriptionis Britannicae Fragmentum". They were 
both written in the year 1568, a short time previous to his 
decease. It is therefore probable, that the closing years 
of his life were wholly devoted to literary pursuits con- 
nected with the elucidation of our national history. 

In the Epistle to his friend, prefixed to his Description 
of Britain, dated Denbigh, August 80th, 1568, he repre- 
sents himself as in expectation of approaching death, in con- 
sequence of " a very perilous fever with a double tertian," 
which seized him on his journey from London to Wales. 
And he apologizes, on this account, for the imperfections 
of some other works he was about to send to Ortelius, and 
which, he says, "if God had spared his life," should be sent 
"in better order, and in all respects perfect*." The illness, to 
which he here alludes, he did not long survive, but breathed 
his last in the same year, at his native place, in the forty- 
first year of his age. His remains were interred in the pa- 
rish church, " with a coarse monument, a dry epitaph, and 
a psalm tune under it," to borrow the words of a modern 
writerf. 

Humphrey Llwyd had four children, two sons and two 
daughters. One of the former, named Henry, settled at 
Cheam in Surrey, and his great grandson, the Rev. Ro- 
bert Lloyd, who was rector of St. Paul's, Covent Garden, 
made un unsuccessful effort to claim the Barony of Lumley, 

* It does not appear to what works he here alludes. It is to be presumed, 
however, that they were some additional treatises connected with his native 
country, which he probably did not live to complete, and of which we have 
now to regret the loss. 

t Mr. Yorke, in his " Royal Tribes of Wales." The following couplet will 
exemplify the " psalm tune," of which he speaks: it forms the commence- 
mentr 

" The corps and earthly shape doth rest here, tomyd in your sight, 
Of Humphrey Llwyd, Master of Arts, a famous worthy wight." 



305 

in right of the sister of Lord Lumley, who, as already men- 
tioned, was married to the subject of this memoir. Whe- 
ther any descendants of the family be now living, we have 
not been able to ascertain. 

Of the character and habits of Humphrey Llwyd we 
have but few traces beyond what his works supply. Cam- 
den, who immediately followed him in the literary world, 
or was rather his cotemporary, describes him as standing 
pre-eminent in that branch of antiquarian research, to which 
he had devoted himself*. The writer of his life in the 
" Athena? Oxonienses" represents him, besides, as a " per- 
son of great eloquence, an excellent rhetorician, and a 
sound philosopher." With these qualifications, of them- 
selves sufficient for his fame, he united the fashionable ac- 
complishments of the age, and was, in particular, as we 
have seen, well skilled in music, which often proved, dur- 
ing his latter years, the solace of those hours that were 
snatched from the labours of study, or the duties of his 
profession. It was, we may presume, the dulce lenimen of 
all his cares. In his person, if we may judge from a por- 
trait of him still in existence, he was peculiarly gifted, while 
the manly beauty of his countenance indicated the corres- 
ponding intelligence of his mindf. 

The several literary productions of Humphrey Llwyd 
have already been specified ; but it may be proper to offer 
a few more remarks on those relating to Wales. Among 
this number the " History of Cambria" has been the most 

* Camden describes him as " a learned Briton, and, for knowledge of 
antiquities, reputed by our countrymen to carry, after a sort with him, all 
the honour and credit." — See the chapter on the Ancient Inhabitants of Bri- 
tain in his •« Britannia." Camden was born in the year 1551, and must, 
therefore, have been seventeen when Llwyd died. 

f The original portrait is at Aston: and a beautiful engraving of it may be 
seen in Mr. Yorke's *f Roya! Tribes." 

X 



306 

generally read, and is, accordingly, the most popular. It 
is founded, as is well known, on the Welsh chronicle of 
Caradog of Llancarvon. It was left in an unfinished state 
by the author ; but, a copy of it being in the possession of 
Sir Henry Sidney, Lord President of the Marches of 
Wales*, it was published at his solicitation in 1584, by Dr. 
David Powell, who supplied the deficiency, and enriched 
it besides with many valuable annotations. It is enough for 
the reputation of this work to say, that it has become the 
foundation of the various histories of Wales, that have since 
appeared. 

The Fragment of the Description of Britain embraces a 
geographical and antiquarian view of the whole island, as 
well as a cursory account of its existing condition, accord- 
ing to its three divisions of England, Scotland, and Wales, 
and is remarkable for the boldness with which the author 
controverts some received authorities respecting the sites of 
several ancient fortresses and towns. This seems to have 
been a work of great research, not fewer than sixty-eight 
authors, native and foreign, being cited in the course of it. 
It was first printed at Cologne in 1572; and in the follow- 
ing year an English translation by Twyne, accompanied by 
several copies of commendatory versesf, was published 

* He was the father of the celebrated Sir Philip Sidney, author of the 
" Arcadia." 

f The compositions of this nature are four, one of which is by the Rev. 
Thomas Brown, Prebendary of Westminster, and another by the Rev. Ed- 
ward Grant, Master of Westminster School. The following are extracted 
from some anonymous lines, and may be cited as a fair specimen of the 
whole :— . 

" Thy country, Llwyd, is bounden much to thee, 
Thou makest it unto us not only known, 
But unto such as in far countries be, 
Whereby thy fame the greater way is flown, 
And eke thy country's praise the more is grown ; 



307 

under the title of the " Breviary of Britain". Moses Wil- 
liams too, an able Welsh antiquary*, printed, in 1723, a 
handsome edition of the original work with annotations. 
The following specimen of the publication, extracted from 
Twyne's translation, may not be out of place here. It is a 
passage, in which the author describes the place of his 
birth, with reference to its state at the time he wrote. 
" This fine town", he says, " and my sweet country, being 
compassed well nigh about with very fair parks, and stand- 
ing in the entrance of an exceeding pleasant valley, abound- 
eth plentifully with all things that are necessary to the use 
of man. The hills yield flesh and white meats. The most 
fertile valley very good corn and grass. The sweet rivers, 
with the sea at hand, minister all sorts of fish and fowl. 
Strange wines come thither forth of Spain, France, and 
Greece abundantly. And being the chief town of the shire, 
standing in the very middle of the country, it is a great 
market town, famous, and much frequented with wares and 
people from all parts of North Wales. The indwellers 
have the use of both tongues, and, being endued by Kings 
of England with many privileges and liberties, are ruled by 
their own laws"t. 

The Epistle to Ortelius, concerning the Antiquity of the 

So by one deed two noble things are chanced, 
Britain and Llwyd to heaven are advanced." 
With the exception of the extravagance of the last line, this passage sup- 
plies a just estimate of the fame Llwyd had acquired amongst his cotempo- 
raries. 

* Moses Williams lived in the beginning of the last century : besides this 
edition of H. Llwyd's works, he published an Index to the Welsh Poets, 
and was of considerable assistance to Dr. Wotton, in the publication of his 
" Leges Wallicae." It is probable, that the translation, from the original 
Welsh, was furnished entirely by Moses Williams, 
t " Breviary of Britain," p. 66-7. 

x2 



308 

Isle of Anglesey, was first published at Antwerp in 1570, 
afterwards by Richard, son of Sir John Price*, in 1573, and 
finally, by Moses Williams, with the work previously noticed. 
It is but a short treatise, and necessarily, from its limited sub- 
ject, of less importance than the two preceding works rela- 
ting to Wales ; but it equally bears testimony to the talents 
and research of the writer. Both this and the Description 
of Wales, it may be proper to add, are written in chaste 
and elegant Latin, and prove that the author's long disuse 
of that tongue, while residing with Lord Arundel, had not 
impaired his academical attainments in this respectf. 

Such are the few memorials, which the ravages of time 
have left us respecting the life and writings of Humphrey 
Llwyd. As long as the ancient history of the country, and 
especially of the Principality, continues to be an object of 
interest, his name will be respected by the patriot and the 
scholar. He will be esteemed, not merely for his talents 
and erudition, but as having been the first writer who ex- 
tended, beyond the boundaries of his native land, an accu- 
rate knowledge of her history and antiquities J. 

* Sir John Price, who was a native of Brecknockshire, was an eminent 
antiquary, and distinguished himself by his Vindication of British History 
against Polydore Virgil. He also assisted Leland in his " Assertio Artnrii." 
and was the first to translate the creed, Lord's Prayer, and Decalogue into 
the Welsh tongue. He died about the year 1553. 

f He is described by Moses Williams, in the Preface to his edition, as 
being " in omni genere litterarum scientissimus, multse lectionis, et in di- 
cendo elegans, cujus paucos pares tulit illnd quo vixit seculum." 

+ If we except the Vindication of British History, by Sir John Price, al- 
luded to in a preceding note. 



309 



DR. JOHN DAVID RHYS. 

Time has left but very few vestiges, to enable us to mark 
the existence of the subject of the following memoir. Yet, 
few as they are, it would be an act of injustice not to no- 
tice them in a work avowedly devoted to the commemora- 
tion of such natives of Wales, as have most distinguished 
themselves, whether by their virtues or talents, in promo- 
ting the interests of their country. And those readers who 
have formed an acquaintance with Welsh literature, or who 
know how to estimate the peculiar properties of the Welsh 
language, will be at no loss to appreciate the services of the 
individual, who is about to claim their attention. 

John David Rhys, as he seems commonly to have styled 
himself*, was born, in the year 1534, at Llanvaethlu, in 
Anglesey. As nothing has descended to us respecting his 
parents, it may be presumed that their station in life was 
not very elevated. The rudiments of his education he pro- 
bably received at his native place, and, when about the age 
of seventeen, we find him prosecuting his studies at Ox- 
ford. In 1555, when in his twenty-first year, he was elected 
student of Christ Church, and seems soon afterwards to 
have quitted the University. 

About this period he left England, for the purpose of set- 
tling, for a time, in Italy, with the view, as it would ap- 
pear, of perfecting himself in the study of medicine, in 
which, we may infer, he had been initiated while at Oxford. 
Sir Edward Stradlirig, a gentleman of distinguished rank 

* He is occasionally called John Davies. His father's name was, proba- 
bly, Davydd ab Rhys. 



310 

and connections in South Wales, with whom John David 
Rhys was on terms of peculiar intimacy, is related to have 
borne the expense of this journey, and which he may, 
therefore, have urged him to undertake *. However, it is 
certain that he became a member of the University of Si- 
enna, in Tuscany, where, after pursuing his professional 
studies for some time, he took his degree of Doctor of Me- 
dicine. 

But, whatever proficiency he may have acquired in the 
particular science just adverted to, he was by no means in- 
attentive to others. An attachment to the study of lan- 
guages seems especially to have influenced him; and he 
was considered to have arrived at as perfect knowledge of 
Italian as of his native tongue. He was, on this account, ap- 
pointed Public Moderator of the school at Pistoia, in which 
capacity he gave universal satisfaction. During his stay in 
Italy, and probably during the time of his occupying the 
station of Public Moderator, he composed, in Italian, a 
Collection of " Rules for beginning the Latin tongue," 
which was subsequently published at Venice. He also 
wrote a treatise, in Latin, on the pronunciation of the Italian 
language, which was printed at Padua. Both these works 
were held in high estimation among the literati of Italy, 
and they bear unequivocal testimony to his masterly know- 
ledge of the language of the country in which he was now 
a resident. 



* Sir Edward Stradling was descended from William de Esterling, one of 
the twelve Norman Knights, who, as incidentally noticed in the life of Rhys 
abTewdwr, (p. 121 , suprti), settled in Glamorganshire after the death of that 
prince. He was the son of Sir Thomas Stradling, Knight, and himself re- 
ceived the honour of knighthood, in 1575. He was a great patron of men of 
learning, as well as a considerable collector of books and MSS. He was 
also deeply versed in the Welsh tongue, of which he is said to have written 
a Grammar. He died in the year 1609, at a very advanced age. 



311 

It cannot be precisely ascertained how long he remained 
in Italy, but there is ground for presuming, that many years 
had elapsed before he determined upon revisiting the land 
of his birth. He may have been at this time between forty 
and fifty*. Upon his return to this country he established 
himself at Brecon, as a practitioner of medicine, in which 
character he soon acquired a considerable reputation. His 
selection of Brecon as his place of abode was, in all likeli- 
hood, in compliance with the wish of Sir Edward S trad- 
ling, from whose seat that town is not very remote. And it 
appears, that much of his time was spent at St. Donat's 
Castle, in the society of his friend and patron, and in the 
enjoyment of the literary recreations natural to persons of 
their congenial habits. 

In addition to the professional celebrity, which the sub- 
ject of this memoir attained after his arrival in Wales, he 
had also acquired a character for general erudition, of the 
most varied and profound nature. Yet, as his attainments 
must have been far above the ordinary learning of the age, 
and especially in the limited circle in which he was destined 
to move, it is possible that he was regarded with the won- 
der of ignorance, rather than with the sober feeling of men 
capable of appreciating what they admired. It is, at least, 
certain, that the admiration of his superior endowments, 
was not unaccompanied by the envy and jealousies natural 
to weak minds; for in the dedication to Sir Edward Strad- 
ling, prefixed to his principal work, he complains, in the 
bitterest terms, of the gross injustice to which he had thus 
been exposed. 

* This may be inferred from the Dedication prefixed to his Welsh Insti- 
tutes, which he appears to have commenced in 1590, when about fifty .years 
of age, and, as it seems, at no very long period after his return to his na- 
tive country. 



312 

Yet, whatever annoyance he may, on this account, have 
experienced in his own immediate neighbourhood, there 
were not wanting some, and they individuals of learning 
and talent, who paid a full and sincere homage to his ac- 
quirements, and, above all, to his profound critical and 
philological erudition*. His masterly knowledge of Italian 
has already been noticed, and with that he united a tho- 
rough acquaintance with the classical languages, as well as 
with some others of modern Europe ; but what peculiarly 
entitles him to a place in these pages is his acknowledged 
skill in the Welsh tongue, of which he has left an imperish- 
able monument in his much celebrated Grammatical Insti- 
tutes. 

The origin of this work appears to have been simply as 
follows. Upon one occasion, when the author was enjoy- 
ing the hospitality of St. Donat's Castle, Sir Edward Strad- 
ling shewed him a Latin poem in praise of that mansion, 
written by one Thomas Leyson, requesting at the same 
time, that he would render it into Welsh +. This Dr. Rhys 
did, and presented the translation, together with one, in 
the same language, of an Italian poetical epistle in praise 
of a country life, to his patron, who was so delighted with 
the excellence of the performance, in both instances, that 
he urged the writer to undertake a Latin treatise on the 
Welsh language, and especially with reference to its poe~ 
tical character, for the instruction of foreigners. 

Dr. Rhys lost no time in complying with this request, al- 

* Among these were Camden and Sir John Stradling, as will appear by 
the seqnel. 

f Dr. Rhys,'inhis Dedication before mentioned, speaks of this composi- 
tion as " venustum poema." Thomas Leyson was a native of Neath, in 
Glamorganshire, and settled as a physician at Bath, where he died. A brief 
account of his life may be seen in Woods IthetuE Oxonienses. 



313 

though at the period, as he says, harassed by his private 
affairs and professional duties, as well as by being involved 
in several irritating contentions, through the calumnies, 
which, as already noticed, were continually assailing him. 
Yet, under all these difficulties and disadvantages, he pro- 
ceeded with his undertaking, which he seems to have com- 
pleted in 1592, when in his fifty-third year*. 

From this period to the time of his death, an interval of 
sixteen or seventeen years, Dr. Rhys continued to reside 
at Brecon, or in the vicinity, dividing his time, as we may 
be allowed to conclude, between his literary pursuits and 
the avocations of his profession. It is presumed, that, du- 
ring this period, he composed some other works in illustra- 
tion of his native language ; but none were ever published, 
and even the manuscripts have long ceased to exist, unless 
there be still at Jesus College, Oxford, a " Compendium 
of Aristotle's Metaphysics," in Welsh, ascribed to Dr. 
Rhys, and said to have been formerly there. Yet this 
may, at last, have been the production of those years 
which were spent at the University *f\ In the work in ques- 
tion the writer is related to have contended, as he might 
do successfully, for the capabilities of the Welsh tongue, 
as fully equal to the Greek in the expression of complex 
and philosophical terms. 

Dr. Rhys breathed his last at Brecon, in 1609, in his 
seventy-fifth year, and, as it would appear, without ever 
having entered into the matrimonial state. He died in the 
communion of the Church of Rome ; but it is not certain 
whether he was originally of this persuasion, or became a 
convert to it after his residence in Italy. It may, at least, 

* The work was printed in London in the same year. 
t The former existence of this MS. at Jesus College is stated in the life 
of Dr. Rh'vs, in the Athena; Oxonienses. 



am 

be assumed, that he professed it during the greatest part 
of his life *. 

It now remains to notice more particularly, than has yet 
been done, Dr. Rhys's principal work, upon which his lite- 
rary reputation in connection with Wales must be grounded. 
The work is entitled, " Cambro^Brytannicae Cymraecaeve 
linguae Institutions et Rudimenta, accurate, et, quantum 
fieri possit, succincte et compendiose conscripta, cum exacta 
carmina Cymraeca condendi ratione, &c.+" Accompanying 
the work are the Dedication to Sir Edward Stradling, al- 
ready noticed, a Latin Preface by Humphrey Prichard J, 
and one in Welsh by the author. The work, as the title 
imports, is rather a treatise on Welsh prosody, than a mere 
grammar, in the popular sense of the term. The first por- 



* In the short account of Dr. Rhys, in the Biographia Britannica, it is as- 
serted that he was not a Roman Catholic, in consequence of an expression 
used by Humphrey Prictiard, in his Preface to the Grammatical Institutes, 
which expression will be noticed in the sequel. At present it is sufficient 
to add here, that, in the " Church History of England from 1500 to 1688," 
by Charles Dodd, published at Brussels in 1742, Dr. Rhys is numbered 
among English papists. 

t In addition to the title, here given, there follows, after the word con- 
scripta, " ad iuteliigenda Biblia Sacra nuper in Cambro-Brytannicumsermo- 
nem versa," an obvious interpolation of H. Prichard, to suit his hypothesis 
alluded to in the preceding note. But it should still be mentioned, that H. 
Prichard's assertion is merely conjectural : his words are " quantum conjec- 
tura asseqni possum." 

$ Humphrey Prichard was a native of Bangor, in Carnarvonshire, and 
was educated at Oxford; but we have no particulars of his life, or of his 
connection with Dr. Rhys. His Preface evinces a considerable share of 
erudition, but it is difficult to account for the error he seems to have com- 
mitted with respect to the particular object of the work, if we suppose his 
Prefaee^o have been written with the privity of Dr. Rhys. It isjiotimpra- 
bable that H. Prichard superintended the printing of the work in London, 
and inserted the Preface and the interpolation in the title-page, without the 
knowledge of Dr, Rhys. 



315 

tion of it, indeed, is devoted to the elementary characteris- 
tics of the language, and particularly to its orthography 
and the force of the Welsh letters ; but considerably the 
greatest part is occupied in illustrating the singular and com- 
plicated rules of Welsh poetry *. In this respect these In- 
stitutes have the merit not merely of being the first produc- 
tion of the kind, but also of never having been since equalled^. 
It accordingly remains the only work, through which the 
learned of foreign countries can form any accurate estimate 
of the metrical properties of the Welsh language. 

The incident, which gave birth to this production, has 
already been noticed, and will account for its more promi- 
nent features. Yet, notwithstanding this, Humphrey Prich- 
ard asserts, in his Preface, that the writer's chief aim was 
to facilitate the popular comprehension of the Scriptures, 
which had recently been translated into the Welsh tonguej. 

* The Grammar embraces 304 pages, 41 of which are occupied in what 
may be called the orthographical properties of the language, 87 more in the 
more prominent grammatical characteristics, and the remaining 176 in Welsh 
prosody. 

t The only Welsh Grammar, published before Dr. J. D. Rhys's work, 
was that of Gruffydd Roberts, printed at Milan in 1567. As this person 
was also a member of the University of Sienna, it is probable enough that 
he was on terms of friendship with Dr. Rhys, who, in his Dedication so 
often quoted, styles him a man of the greatest learning, and a professor of 
philosophy. The Grammar in question is chiefly confined to the orthogra- 
phy of the language. Since the appearance of Dr. Rhys's work, there have 
been published the following Welsh Grammars : 1. That by William Mid- 
dleton (Gwilym Ganoldrev), published in 1603. 2. That by Dr. John Da- 
vies, in 1621. 3. That by John Gambold, in 1727. 4. That by John Rhydd- 
ercb, in the following year. 5. That by the Rev. Thomas Richards, in 
1753. 6. That by W. Owen Pughe, Esq., prefixed to his Dictionary, pub- 
lished in 1803. Of all these the first and last only bear any comparison 
with Dr. Rhys's Institutes, in reference to their illustration of Welsh poe- 
try. There were several Grammars in MS. before that of Gruffydd Ro- 
berts ; but none of them have been printed. 

1 The Welsh translation of the Bible was published in 1588. 



316 

However this effect might have been incidentally produced, 
it is certain, from the circumstances already alluded to, 
that the author had no other end in view than to elucidate 
the peculiar qualities of Welsh versification. His religious 
propensities must have been wholly at variance with any 
wish to give a popular currency to the truths of Revelation. 
The fame, that this work procured for the author during 
his lifetime, is sufficiently manifest, as well from the Pre- 
face of Humphrey Prichard, as from some encomiastic po- 
etical effusions still extant. Among others, those of Cam- 
den* and Stradlingf, nephew of Sir Edward before men- 



* Camden's lines are as follow : — 

Imminuit damnosa dies decora alta Britannum, 

Linguae splendorem restituitque dies. 
Sed lans, docte David, tibi cedat, namque laboie, 

Quae parta est patriae gloria, parta tuo ; 
Nunc agedum Hectoridas profer te Cambria dignes, 

En nova lux linguae, Maeonidesque novus. 

t Two Epigrams by Stradling are prefixed to the work. Tbe following 
may be cited as the most favourable : — 

Anie Britannorum nomen, vis bellica, virtus, 

Ingenium mores, orbis erant speculum : 
Lingua din latuit neglecta, sed error in illo 

Extitit, ignotae nulla cupido fuit. 
tfanc modo tn Graeeis, David, literisque Latinis 
./Equasti, gcntis gloria primae tuae. 
In a volume of Epigrams by the same writer, published in 1607, the fol- 
lowing also occurs, which proves that Dr. Rhys was at that time living. 
Rhaese mini charos venerabilis inter amicos, 

Canities fida sed probitate magis. 
Mona cui natale solum, Britannia stirpem, 

Italia ingenium, Sena dedit gradum. 
Hanc tibi Stradlingus chartam pro munere mittit, 

Dona, senex, juvenis qualiacunque cape, 
Europe quamvis pcregrat&, Rhaese, noteris, 
Forsan et hac chart!, notior esse potes, 

Sed 



317 

tioned, which are prefixed to the work, deserve to be no- 
ticed. But the reputation of Dr. Rhys was not doomed to 
rest only upon the unstable basis of cotemporary admiration. 
His merits as a critic in the Welsh language, and as an il- 
lustrator of its poetical attributes, have been confirmed by 
the suffrages of more than two centuries ; and his name is 
still venerated as that of an individual, who has conferred 
the most essential benefits on Welsh literature. Nor, until 
the Awen of Cymru shall cease to influence the hearts of 
his countrymen, will these benefits be forgotten. 

Sed pereant chart®, expurgatur quicquid in illis ; 
Ipse tibi, mihi tii pectore charus eris. 
Stradliug was much esteemed by his cotemporaries for his learning and 
genius. He succeeded to the estates of his uncle, Sir Edward, in 1609, and 
was created baronet in 1611. 



318 



BISHOP MORGAN. 

1 here has already been an opportunity for remarking, in 
the progress of this work, that the chronological order, in 
which it is written, must occasionally produce an uniformity 
in the character of succeeding lives, which would not have 
occurred under a different arrangement. In the former in- 
stance we had a succession of warriors, who might justly be 
regarded as the most distinguished individuals of the age, in 
which they flourished, with reference to the national object 
of these memoirs. The reader will now have to contem- 
plate a long unbroken line of literary characters, who, in 
the more tranquil portion of the Welsh annals, and when 
the country was no longer agitated by foreign wars or civil 
commotions, became its most conspicuous ornaments. The 
days were long past when the sword of the patriot could 
assert the freedom and independence of his native soil; 
and it only remained for him to vindicate, with his pen, the 
learning and the genius of Wales. 

It is not merely, however, as a literary character that the 
subject of the present memoir has a claim on our respect. 
He stands also distinguished as an eminent divine, and as 
having contributed, in a signal manner, to the spiritual wel- 
fare of his countrymen, by giving to the world the first com- 
plete version of the Scriptures in the Welsh tongue ; and 
it is to be regretted that but little is known of this exem- 
plary individual. 

William Morgan was the son of John Morgan, of Gwi- 
bernant, in Penmachno, in the county of Carnarvon ; but 
the time of his birth cannot be accurately ascertained. Pa- 
ternally he claimed descent, according to some accounts, 



319 

from Nevydd Hardd, and, by others, from Hedd Molwynog, 
heads of two of the Fifteen Tribes of North Wales ; and 
by his mother's side he was connected with another of these 
privileged clans, of which Marchudd ab Cynan was the 
founder*. It is but a natural inference then to conclude, 
that his parents filled a respectable station and ranked 
among the Welsh gentry of that period. 

His education, of the early portion of which we are not 
informed, was completed at St. John's College, Cambridge. 
Nor have any memorials descended to us of the proficiency 
he made in his academical studies, or of the particular na- 
ture of his occupation for some years after quitting the 
University. The first notice, that occurs respecting him, is, 
that he was instituted to the vicarage of Welshpool, in 
Montgomeryshire, on the 8th of August, 1575, which, we 
may presume, was his first preferment in the church; and, 
although we have no particulars of his life previous to this 
period, it is extremely probable, that much of it, however 
unprofitable to himself in a worldly sense, was not unpro- 
ductive of benefits both to himself and others,. of a more 
important character. It was employed, we may conclude, 
in laying the foundation of that work, the Welsh translation 
of the Bible, which will transmit his name with honour to 
the latest posterity. 

From the vicarage of Welshpool, after a residence there 
of three years, he was removed to the living of Llanrhaidr 



* The Fifteen Tribes have for their founders so many chieftains or nobles 
of North Wales, who lived, for the most part, during the eleventh and 
twelfth centuries. Most of the principal families in that part of the Princi- 
pality continue to trace their connection with these tribes. It is possible, 
that they had their origin in the system of clanship, which anciently prevailed 
in Wales. There are also Five Royal Tribes, which relate to both divisions 
of the Principality. 



320 

Mochnant, in Denbighshire, where he completed his valu- 
able work. His original intention was to translate no more 
than the Pentateuch; but, having occasion in 1583, incon- 
sequence of a dispute with his parishioners, to see Whit- 
gift, Archbishop of Canterbury, he was persuaded by that 
prelate to proceed in his undertaking, and a complete ver- 
sion was the result*. About the year 1587 he went to 
London for the purpose of committing his work to the press; 
and, for the year during which he was engaged in super- 
intending the printing, he resided with Dr. Gabriel Good- 
man, Dean of Westminster, of whose hospitality as well as 
of his general kindness on this occasion he speaks in terms 
of the liveliest gratitudef. In 1588 the Welsh Bible was 
published, accompanied by a dedication to Queen Eliza- 
beth ; and in the same year Morgan exchanged the living of 
Llanrhaidr for the more profitable rectory of Llanvyllin, 
with which he received also the sinecure of Pennant in the 
vicinity. Whether his recent services in the cause of the 
church were the immediate occasion of this promotion, 
must be left to conjecture ; but it is certain, that they were 
soon to receive a more worthy acknowledgment. 

In 1594 the living of Denbigh was added to his other 
preferments, and in the following year he was raised to 
the mitre by the express desire of Queen Elizabeth. Thus 
did the zeal and learning he had evinced 1 in his great work 
at length meet with an appropriate reward. His first episco- 
pal preferment was the see of Llandav, which he retained 
until 1601, when he was translated to the more valuable 
bishopric of St. Asaph. 

* This we learn from the Dedication, prefixed to the work, in which he 
says he also experienced the most liberal assistance and advice from the 
archbishop with reference to the undertaking. 

t See his Dedication before noticed. 



321 

From a correspondence between Bishop Morgan and Sir 
John Wynn of Gwydir, still extant*, it would appear that 
the latter was, in some respect, instrumental in procuring 
the bishop's promotion. Upon one occasion Sir John 
Wynn observes, in a letter to Morgan, that, " if he had 
not pointed the way with his finger," Morgan might have re- 
mained Vicar of Llanrhaidr ; and, in another instance, in a 
communication to a mutual friend he has the following 
more explicit remark in the same point, — " Was it not I 
that first dealt with Mr. Boyer to make him bishop, and 
make the bargain ? Mr. Boyer was neither known to him, 
nor he to Mr. Boyer ; ergo, if that had not been, he had 
continued still Vicar of Llanrhaidr." He also makes an 
obscure allusion, in the same letter, to something having 
" been objected against Morgan and his wife," which would 
have prevented his translation to St. Asaph, but for the 
good offices of Sir John Wynn and his friends. In answer 
to these insinuations, the bishop denies that the favours he 
received from Sir John Wynn were, by any means, so great 
as the latter accounted them, and, with respect to the inter- 
ference of that gentleman in procuring his election to St. 
Asaph, he says, in his letter to the mutual acquaintance 
before alluded to, — " how much he is deceived herein you 
and others know." Yet, as he does admit that he was in- 
debted to Sir John Wynn for some acts of kindness, there 
may be a partial foundation for the assertions of the latter, 

* This correspondence may be seen in the Appendix to Mr. Yorke's 
H Royal Tribes." It had its origin in the refusal on ihe. part of the bishop 
to comply with a request made by Sir John Wynn, which will be more par- 
ticularly noticed in the sequel. The letters are dated in 1603, about two 
years after the bishop's removal to St. Asaph. Sir John Wynn, who was 
created a baronet in 1615, wrote a small work called " A History of the 
Gwydir Family," which contains some curious anecdotes illustrative of the 
manners of that time. He died in 1626, at the age of seventy-three. 

Y 



322 

though to assume that he was entirely, or even principally, 
the means of raising Dr. Morgan to his episcopal dignity, 
is to suppose (contrary to what has been the common be- 
lief on the subject) that Queen Elizabeth or her advisers 
wanted, of themselves, the discernment to appreciate his 
merit, or the virtue to reward it. 

The correspondence, to which allusion has here been 
made, deserves notice also as evincing, on the part of Dr. 
Morgan, a pertinacious conscientiousness in the exercise of 
his episcopal functions, which is somewhat remarkable. 
Sir John Wynn, it seems, presuming upon the kind offices 
that he had rendered to the bishop, made application to 
him to confirm the lease of a rectory* : the bishop returns 
to this an immediate and positive refusal upon the plea of 
conscience, " which" (he says in his letter to Sir John 
Wynn) " assureth me that your request is such, that, in 
granting it, I should prove myself an unhonest, unconscion- 
able, and irreligious man, — you a sacrilegious robber of my 
church, a perfidious spoiler of my diocese, and an unna- 
tural hinderer of preachers and good scholars, the conside- 
ration of which would be a continual terror and torment to 
my conscience." Sir John Wynn, who seems not to have 
been at all prepared for such a result, upon receiving this 
decisive reply, makes a bitter complaint of the bishop's 
ingratitude, recapitulating, in two letters, numerous little 
services he had rendered him, and concluding by desiring 
Dr. Morgan to " be assured of him as bitter an enemy (if 
he drive him to it) as ever he was a stedfast friend." There 
may be something unchristian in this menace ; but it may 
be doubted, on the other hand, whether the occasion war- 
ranted, on the part of the bishop, so strict a discharge of 
his pastoral duties. If, however, his determined refusal to 

* This was the rectory of Llam wst. 



323 

oblige a friend and a benefactor in a matter of no great mo- 
ment was really dictated, as he alleges, by a conscientious 
regard for the welfare of his diocese, it may easily be con- 
ceived to what a rigid extreme he must have carried this 
spirit upon ordinary occasions. 

He held the see of St. Asaph only three years, as he 
died on the 10th of September, 1604, and was interred on 
the following day in the cathedral, without any monumental 
memorial to mark the place of his sepulture. 

It may now be proper to offer some fuller account of 
Bishop Morgan's translation, than what has been inciden- 
tally given in the course of this memoir. Before the ap- 
pearance of this work very few efforts had been made to 
familiarize the natives of Wales with the sacred volume, 
through the medium of their vernacular tongue. The first 
publication of this nature was a translation of the portions 
of Scripture, appropriated to the communion service, which 
was printed in 1551, under the signature of W. S., the ini- 
tials of William Salisbury, who afterwards, in 1567, with 
the assistance of Dr. Richard Davies*, Bishop of St. Da- 
vid's, and the Rev. Thomas Huetf, published an entire 
version of the New TestamentJ. Long before either of 

* Dr. Richard Davies, a native of Denbighshire, was Bishop of St. Asaph, 
in 1559, and was translated to St. David's in 1561. In addition to the as- 
sistance he gave W. Salisbury, he was employed in the English version of 
the Bible, and translated all from the beginning of Joshua to the end of 
Samuel. He is also stated to have assisted Morgan in his version of the Old 
Testament ; but this appears to be without any foundation, as he died in 
1581, two years before Morgan appears to have determined upon translating 
the whole of the sacred volume. 

t He was Precentor of St. David's. 

i William Salisbury was by profession a lawyer. Besides the work above- 
mentioned, he published also a treatise on Rhetoric in Welsh, and a small 
Welsh Vocabulary. 

\2 



324 

these publications, indeed, an attempt appears to have heen 
made to translate the Old Testament ; for Bishop Davies, 
in the work last noticed, mentions that he had in his youth 
seen a MS. Welsh translation of the Pentateuch in the pos- 
session of a near relative of his family. This, however, 
was never printed, nor is there any other record of its ex- 
istence, than what is afforded by this casual allusion*. 

Notwithstanding so little had been done towards promul- 
gating a knowledge of the Scriptures in Wales before Bi- 
shop Morgan's undertaking, the necessity of the measure had 
occupied the attention of the legislature a long time ante- 
cedently. In the year 1563, the fifth year of Queen Eliza- 
beth's reign, an act passed, directing that a Welsh version 
of the Old and New Testament should* under the superin- 
tendence of the four Welsh bishops and the Bishop of He- 
reford, be prepared for general use in the Welsh churches 
on the 1st of March, 1566; and, in the event of a noncom- 
pliance with this enactment, a penalty of forty pounds was 
to be inflicted on each prelate. Whether any effort was 
made to enforce the provisions of this act we are not in- 
formed : it is probable, that the views of the legislature 
were not adequately supported by the co-operation of indi- 
viduals in power, and it is certain, that the penalties, im- 



* Dr. Llewelyn, in his " Historical Account of the Welsh Versions of the 
Bible," suggests that the translation, thus alluded to by Bishop Davies, 
might have been the work of Tindall, who was a native of Wales. But he 
has obviously no authority for the surmise. It is not improbable, that par- 
tial versions of the Scriptures may have existed in Wales at a remote age, 
particularly during the frequeut intercourse thai took place with Armorica 
in the sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries, when many missionaries came over 
from that country to Wales, and established numerous colleges and churches 
for the propagation of Christianity. However, if any such versions existed, 
we have no longer any vestiges of them. 



325 

posed on the bishops, were by no means sufficient to inti- 
midate them into any extraordinary exertions. 

From whatever cause it happened, twenty-five years had 
elapsed from the date of the statute alluded to before its 
object was, without its assistance, accomplished. What a 
decree of the legislature had failed in effecting was, at 
length, achieved by the voluntary and disinterested labours 
of a private individual. In his original conception of this 
great design, it is likely that Morgan had little hope of 
emolument or honour : he was satisfied, we may presume, 
with the reward of his conscience in a case so pregnant with 
that peculiar species of consolation. His accidental inter- 
view with Whitgift, and his acquaintance with Dean Good- 
man*, opened a new field to his enterprise, as well as a 
brighter prospect of final success. He had also, in the pro- 
gress of his pious undertaking, secured the friendship of the 
Bishops of St. Asaph and Bangor, to whom he expresses his 
obligation for their liberal exertions in his behalff. Thus 
in possession of patrons, he was also provided with able 
assistants. Dr. Richard VaughanJ, Dr. David Powell, 

* Dr. Gabriel Goodman was a native of Ruthin in Denbighshire, wliere 
he founded a school and a hospital. He supported Camden in his travels, 
and procured him the appointment of Under Master in Westminster School. 
He was forty years Dean of Westminster. He is said to have been the au- 
thor of the English translation of the first Epistle to the Corinthians, as we 
now have it ; but it does not appear that he afforded Morgan any material 
assistance in his Welsh version, beyond the supply of books, in which he was 
extremely liberal. Dr. Goodman died in 1601. 

t Drs. Hughes and Bellot were, at this period, Bishops of St. Asaph and 
Bangor. 

% Dr. Richard Vaughan was a native of Carnarvonshire, and educated at 
St. John's College, Cambridge. He was successively Bi;>hop of Bangor, 
Chester, and London. His merit as a scholar was very great. Owen, the 
Epigrammatist, has the following couplet upon him :— 



326 

the historian*, and Dr. Edmund Prys, Archdeacon of Me- 
rioneth*^ are named as having been his coadjutors in the 
translation. The parts, however, which fell to their share, 
although they cannot be precisely identified, are admitted 
to have been very inconsiderable in comparison with the 
labours of Morgan himself. This remark, it should be 
added, has reference solely to the version of the Old Tes- 
tament; for that of the New Testament was adopted, with 
some variation, from the preceding translation by Salisbury. 

Such are briefly the circumstances connected with the 
first Welsh version of the bible, from which it may be in- 
ferred, that Bishop Morgan was the sole projector of the 
work, and that he brought it to a conclusion without any 
very material literary assistance. In the edition of 1620, 
by Bishop Parry, several alterations were introduced, but 
not of sufficient importance to deprive the original transla- 
tor of the chief merit belonging to the accomplishment of 
this great national undertaking. 

The Welsh bible has always been regarded, even in a 
mere literary view, as the most valuable work in the lan- 
guage ; and, in the extravagance of critical eulogy, it has 
been described as uniting the varied beauties, of which 

Piaesul es (O Britonnm decns immortale tuorum !) 
In Londinensi primus in urbe Brito. 

* Dr. Powell was a native of Denbighshire, and educated at Oxford. 
He was vicar of Rhiwabon in 1571, and enjoyed afterwards other prefer- 
ments in Wales. He died in J 598. Besides the assistance he gave to Mor- 
gan, he published the " Historie of Cambria" in 1584, as has already been 
noticed in the life of Humphrey Llvvyd. 

f Dr. Edmund Prys was an eminent Welsh poet as well as a profound 
scholar. He was a native of Merionethshire, and received his education at 
Cambridge. Besides the part he had in the translation of the Bible, he also 
wrote a Welsh metrical version of the Psalms, which is still in use. Several 
of his Welsh poetical pieces are also preserved. 



327 

the Welsh tongue is susceptible, with all the native simpli- 
city and other characteristics of the Hebrew*. That it ap- 
proaches more closely than the English version to the pecu- 
liar genius and sublimity of the original, from the nearer 
affinity of the two languages, will be admitted by all com- 
petent judges ; but that it is to be considered as a perfect 
specimen of the purity, copiousness, and expressiveness of 
the Welsh tongue, will be maintained only by those who suf- 
fer their judgment to be influenced by the sacredness of the 
subject, rather than by any other consideration. The Welsh 
translation, it is true, comprises numerous beauties even as 
a literary performance ; but, like every other work of man, 
it is, at the same time, chargeable with many errors and in- 
accuracies, which are to be ascribed to several causes, inde- 
pendent of the length of the work, to which some inadver- 
tencies were unavoidably incident, — for 

«— — opere in longo fas est obrepere somnum. 
Among the causes alluded to may be here mentioned, an 
ignorance of those peculiar capabilities of the Welsh lan- 
guage, which have since been so ably developed, — too servile 
a conformity with the popular style of expression in use at 
the time, arising, no doubt, from an anxious and laudable 
aim at perspicuity, — and finally, perhaps, an unnecessary de- 
ference to the authority of the English translation. Hence 
those inaccuracies of orthography— those verbal contrac- 
tions and elisions, of mere vulgar currency, and wholly 
irreconcileable with the classical purity of the language — 
that unnecessary introduction of weak auxiliaries and other 



* It is unnecessary to particularize the works to which allusion is here 
made. Among others, Walters's Dissertation on the Welsh language may 
be mentioned. 



328 

expletives*, — that occasional inattention to the various in- 
flections of verbs, — and that adoption of less felicitous terms 
of expression than the language would have supplied, which 
the most enthusiastic admirers of the Welsh version must 
admit are to be found in it. Whatever errors of a more 
important character it may possess are to be traced to the 
comparatively imperfect state of biblical criticism at the pe- 
riod of its production. But, after all, with the full admis- 
sion of all these imperfections, which are opposed rather to 
the inconsiderate praises of enthusiasts than to the genuine 
reputation of the work, the Welsh version must be regarded 
as among the noblest attempts to familiarize modern nations 
with the truths of divine writ, and as an imperishable mo- 
nument of the zeal, learning, and industry of its author. 

* The faults thus far alluded to may be considered as having been, in 
gome degree, recognised by authority. For in 1807 a small stereotype edi- 
tion of the Welsh Bible was published at Cambridge, under the superin- 
tendence of an eminent Welsh scholar, who had permission to correct the 
more obvious blemishes of the nature above described ; and an edition is 
now in the press at Oxford, which a gentleman of that University, well qua- 
lified for the task, is, as we understand, to correct in a similar manner, upon 
the plan of the Cambridge edition. 



329 



DR. JOHN DAVIES. 

Among the benefactors of Welsh literature the individual, 
whose name is here prefixed, holds a distinguished rank. 
And it is to be regretted, as in some preceding instances, 
that but few notices respecting his life have descended to 
our times. 

According to the accounts generally received, Dr. John 
Davies was a native of Llanverres, in Denbighshire, where 
he first saw the light, it is probable, about the year 1570. 
His father worked at the humble occupation of a weaver ; 
but his family appears to have been respectably connected*. 
The subject of this memoir received his early education at 
Ruthin school, which had been founded some years previ- 
ously by Dr. Gabriel Goodman. His tutor here was Dr. 
Richard Parry, afterwards Bishop of St. Asaph, and editor 
of the Welsh translation of the Bible, published in 1620 ; 
and the relation of master and pupil, that was thus formed 
between these two individuals, was subsequently matured 
by adventitious circumstances into a friendship, which con- 
tinued during their joint lives. 

In the year 1589 Dr. Davies entered upon an academical 

* Mr. Yorke, in his " Royal Tribes/' says lie was of the tribe of Mar- 
chudd ab Cynan ; and it appears, from a short biographical notice of him m 
the Cambrian Register, vol.i. p. 158, that he" was maternally descended from 
Ednyved Vychan, a celebrated Welsh chieftain in the beginning of the thir- 
teenth century. Dr. Davies himself, too, in one of his letters dated August 
26, 1623, alludes to Mr. Vaughan cf Hengwrt, the celebrated antiquary, as 
his w cousin." See the Cambrian Register, vol. ii. p. 470. His father appears 
to have been a native of Denbighshire, and was known by the name of 
David ab John. 



330 

life, and became a member of Jesus College, Oxford. His 
first residence in the university did not exceed four years, 
during which he took a degree in arts, and acquired a re- 
putation for a considerable share of academical learning. 
In 1593 he quitted Oxford, and retired to Wales, where he 
prosecuted his study of divinity, and added to it that of the 
language and antiquities of his native country*. In the year 
following his departure from Oxford, he entered into holy 
orders, but remained without any preferment ten years, an 
interval which he, no doubt, employed most beneficially in 
the particular branches of learning to which he had devoted 
himself. In 1604, a short time antecedent to Bishop Parry's 
election to St. Asaph, he was presented by the crown with 
the rectory of Mallwyd, in Merionethshire, and became 
soon afterwards Chaplain to his friend on his elevation to 
his episcopal dignity. 

After a residence of about fifteen years in the country, 
he returned to Oxford in 1608, and was admitted of Lin- 
coln College, as Reader of Bishop Lombard's Sentencesf, 
having first obtained a dispensation for not ruling in arts. 
The duration of his second residence at the university can- 
not be accurately ascertained ; but it is probable it was not 

* His attachment to the cultivation of his native language must have 
commenced as early, at least, as this period ; for in the preface to his 
Grammar, published in 1621, he says that he had devoted the leisure of 
more than thirty years of his life to this pursuit. 

t The " Books of Sentences," four in number, were the work of Peter 
Lombard, Bishop of Paris, in 1172, forming a compilation of extracts from 
the writings of the Christian Fathers, whose inconsistencies and contradic- 
tions the worthy prelate, with true Catholic zeal, endeavours to reconcile. 
This work, according to Roger Bacon, was in such repute soon after its 
appearance, that even the Holy Scriptures themselves were deemed of 
inferior importance. Such was the tyranny, which, in that unenlightened 
age, scholastic theology exercised over the minds of men. 



331 

long, as we find him, in 1612, elected a Canon of St. Asaph, 
and, in 1613 and 1615, presented with the living of Llan-y- 
Mawddwy, in Merionethshire, and the sinecure of DarOwain, 
in Montgomeryshire, which, with the preferment he already 
enjoyed, must have placed him in affluent circumstances. 

In 1616 he took his degree of Doctor of Divinity, and 
was, in the following year, appointed to the Prebend of 
Llan Nevydd, in the diocese of St. Asaph, which was his 
last promotion in the church. In a few years afterwards 
he lost his friend and benefactor, Bishop Parry*, and, 
with him, whatever benefit might still have resulted to him 
from their long intimacy, during which the knowledge, 
which that prelate must have acquired of his friend's ta- 
lents and character, may have disposed him, in a peculiar 
manner, to reward the merit which he had so many oppor- 
tunities of appreciating. 

What may have strengthened the tie between these two 
persons, in addition to their early connexion, was their joint 
employment in the revision of Bishop Morgan's Welsh 
Bible. It is probable, that Dr. Davies was thus engaged 
soon after his first retirement from Oxford ; and his anxiety 
to qualify himself for so important a task may have induced 
him to devote himself at that period, in a particular man- 
ner, to the cultivation of his native tongue, as well as to the 
study of Biblical literature. Bishop Parry's translation 
was published, as already incidentally intimated, in 1620; 
and it appears from a marginal note on Dr. Davies's Welsh 



* Bishop Parry was. a native of Ruthin, in Denbighshire, and received 
his education, first, under Camden at Westminster, and afterwards at Christ 
Church, Oxford. He was Chancellor of Bangor, Vicar of Gresford, Dean 
of Bangor, and ultimately Bishop of St. Asaph, where he died in 1623. He 
was highly reputed for his learning and piety. 



332 

Dictionary, that the service he rendered on the occasion 
was very considerable*. 

The first work, in elucidation of the Welsh language, 
which Dr. Davies gave the world, was his Grammar, pub- 
lished in 1621, under the title of "Antiquse Linguae Britan- 
nicae Rudimenta," with a dedication to Bishop Parry, and 
a preface addressed to the venerable Dr. Edmund Prysf . 
This Grammar is strictly what it pretends to be, a treatise 
on the rudimental characteristics of the Welsh tongue ; but 
it has supplied essential aid to subsequent writers in the 
same branch of literature. It is written in Latin, and in a 
style which proves the author to have been perfectly mas- 
ter of that language. 

In 1632 Dr. Davies published his Dictionary, upon which 
his literary fame, and especially as an expounder of his 
native language, must chiefly rest. About forty years 



* This note is by a Chancellor of St. Asaph, and occurs in an edition of 
Davies's Dictionary published a few years after the death of the author. — 
The words are " In Bibliorum ultima et emendata editione Jo. Dav. peru- . 
tilem impendit operam." In addition to the aid he thus rendered to Bishop 
Parry, it is also said, that he had previously assisted Bishop Morgan. This 
is mentioned in the Athena Oxonienses, and in other works which have fol- 
lowed it, and the statement seems to receive some countenance from an ex- 
pression of Dr. Davies himself in the preface to his Grammar, in which 
he says— " Utrique S. S. Bibliorum interpreti Brit, indignus fui adminis- 
ter." But, as he was at school in the year (1588), in which Morgan's trans- 
lation was published, it is not probable that he could have afforded any 
material cooperation, and especially as, according to his admission, it was 
not until about this period that he began to devote himself seriously to the 
cultivation of the Welsh tongue. If, then, he was of any assistance to 
Bishop Morgan, it was merely, we may presume, by making some literal 
emendations: he could not, at that time, have arrived at any critical pro- 
ficiency in the language. 

f A short notice concerning him occurs in the preceding life. He was, 
at this period, more than eighty years of age. 



333 

previously, as appears from a letter of his still extant, he 
had laid the foundation of this work* ; and in 1626, at the 
request of Sir John Wynn, of Gwydir, he undertook the 
revisal of a work in manuscript, of a similar nature, by Tho- 
mas ab William, commonly called Sir Thomas Williams, 
a distinguished Welsh scholarf. In 1627 he had brought 
his labours to a close, both by completing his own produc- 
tion, and by introducing into that submitted to his revision 
such alterations as he deemed proper : and five years after- 
wards both works were united in one publication, under the 
title of "Antiquse Lingua? Britannicae et Linguae Latinae Dic- 
tionarium Duplex," the Welsh-Latin portion being entirely 
his own, and the Latin- Welsh comprising the corrected 
labours of Thomas ab William. The Dictionary is dedi- 
cated to Charles II., at that time Prince of Wales; but it 



* The letter here alluded to is one to Mr. Owen Wynn, of Gwydir, a son 
of Sir John Wynn, dated January 23, 1627, and in which he says that he be- 
gan his own Dictionary in 1593? the year in which he quitted Oxford, but that 
he was only, at the time he wrote, beginning to " write it fair," an operation 
which he expresses a hope of concluding " by the beginning of summer;" but 
four subsequent summers at least had elapsed before the work saw the light. 
See the Cambrian Register, vol. ii. p. 473. It is strange that Mr. Lewis 
Morris, in one of his letters to Mr. Pegge (Cam. Reg. vol. i. p. 370), should 
have styled Davies's Dictionary " a hasty work," when it is evident, that 
nearly forty years had intervened between the first conception of the work 
and its publication. 

+ This fact is stated in the letter to Mr. Owen Wynn, above quoted. He 
began the revision in the month of April, 1626, and completed it in the fol- 
lowing January. Thomas ab William was a native of Carnarvonshire, and 
by profession a physician. He resided at Trevriw, near Llanrwst. Besides 
the Dictionary above alluded to, he wrote a compilation of Welsh pedigrees, 
a collection of medical receipts, and a herbal in Welsh, English, and Latin, 
which exist in manuscript. According to some accounts of him, he was a 
divine as well as a professor of physic. His death happened about 1620. 



334 

does not appear that the author ever derived any benefit 
from this tribute to royalty*. 

It is hardly necessary to enter into an examination of the 
acknowledged merits of a work, which, for nearly two 
centuries, continued the most valuable of the kind in the 
Welsh tongue. More extensive researches, indeed, have, 
of late years, added many thousand words to those collect- 
ed by Dr. Daviesf, gleaned, probably, from sources to 
which he had not access, especially the works of the more 
ancient Welsh poets, which have been brought to light by 
the patriotic exertions of modern times}:. But, notwith- 



* A quarto edition of this Dictionary was published in Holland, in the 
last century, by Boxhornius, with the view of promoting inquiries into 
Celtic antiquities. 

f This remark has reference to the truly valuable Dictionary, by W. Owen 
Pughe, Esq. published in 1803, which, in its lucid arrangement of the lan- 
guage, as to its elementary and derivative properties, has no rival in this or 
any other tongue. It comprises about eighty thousand words more than 
any preceding Dictionary, and a great proportion of these authenticated by 
quotations from the best Welsh writers in prose aud verse. Besides Dr. 
Davies's work and the one just noticed, the only others of any note are the 
ArchcEologia Britannica, by Edward Llwyd, the Welsh-English Dictionary, 
by the Rev. Thomas Richards, and Mr. Walters's English- Welsh Diction- 
ary, published in 1794. 

X It is scarcely necessary to say, that the editors of the " Archaiology of 
Wales" are here contemplated. For this invaluable treasury of the ancient 
lore of the Cymry, the public are indebted to the late Mr. Owen Jones, a 
furrier in Thames-street, and a native of Denbighshire ; of whom it is suffi- 
cient to say, that, by his disinterested and unexampled exertions on this 
occasion, he has imposed a debt of gratitude on his country, which no time 
can discharge. The work embraces, in three large volumes, the most im- 
portant remains of Welsh literature, from the fifth to the close of the thir- 
teenth century, which were all collected and published at the expense of 
Mr. Jones, without the slightest chauce of an adequate remuneration. This 
patriotic individual died in 1814. 



335 

standing these defects, Dr. Davies's Dictionary will always 
be regarded as a production of standard excellence, and 
especially with reference to its collation of the Welsh with 
the Hebrew and other ancient languages, which, with the 
learned preface accompanying the work, proves the author 
to have been, in the language of one of his biographers, 
" a most exact critic, and an indefatigable searcher into 
ancient scripts*." 

To the literary labours already specified, the author add- 
ed a Welsh translation of the Thirty-nine Articles, and of 
Parsons's Christian Resolutions. He also made some con- 
siderable collections of Welsh poems and proverbs, which 
are still extant in manuscript*!-. But his hours were not 
exclusively devoted to literary employment : it was the oc- 
cupation of his leisure rather than the serious business of 
his life. With his spiritual functions he united the civil 
duties of a magistrate ; and the general respect and esteem, 
with which he was regarded by his countrymen, afford the 
most satisfactory proof of the exemplary manner in which he 
filled this twofold capacity. But his exertions for the pub- 
lic good were not confined to those of a professional nature. 
He devoted much of his private means to charitable and 
useful purposes ; and it is recorded, that, among other acts 
of this character, he erected, at his own expense, three 
public bridges in the parish of Mallwyd, where he resided 
during the greatest part of his life. 

The subject of this memoir was united, but at what pe- 
riod does not appear, to a sister of Rhys Wynn, Esq., of 
Llywnon, another of whose daughters was married to Bishop 



* See Athena Oxonienses, vol. i. p. 597. 

t Some of these, in the hand-writing of Dr. Davies, exist in the Bodleian 
Library, and among the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum, 



336 

Parry* There was no issue of this union ; and whatever 
property in land Dr. Davies possessed he left between 
two nephews, one on his side and the other on that of 
his wife, a son of Bishop Parry, to whom he wished thus 
to testify the friendship he had entertained for his father. 
He died at Mallwyd, on the 15th of May, 1644, and was 
interred in the parochial church of that place. 

Of the general endowments, whether natural or acquired, 
of Dr. John Davies, but little remains to be said. While 
at the university, we are told by Wood, he was reputed to 
possess a profound and critical knowledge of the ancient 
tongues, an intimate acquaintance with the history of his 
own country, and an indefatigable spirit of research into 
the writings of antiquity, especially such as were curious or 
rare. With these qualities he afterwards united a remark- 
able degree of perseverance in those particular studies, to 
which so great a portion of his life was dedicated ; and, 
when their unprofitable nature in a mere pecuniary view 
is taken into consideration*, he must appear to have been 
actuated solely by a sincere and disinterested desire to 
diffuse a knowledge of his native tongue, and to vindicate 
its excellence. On this account he merits, that the grati- 
tude of posterity should be added to the tribute of re- 
spect, which he received from his cotemporaries. 



* In a letter to Sir John Wynn, dated Nov. S, 1623, he says, in allusion to 
Thomas ab William's work, which Sir John Wynn wished him to revise, — 
** Concerning the Dictionary, you know so great a volume cannot be printed 
without very great charge, which I know no printer will, by any means, 
undergo, being that printers conceive so small hope of gain by our Welsh 
books." It is to be hoped, that a change of times has effected a change also 
in this respect, more creditable to the public spirit of the country : but the 
circumstance may be noticed to prove that Dr. Davies could have enter- 
tained but little hope of profit from his literary speculations. 



337 



EDWARD LLWYD. 

By a certain class of readers the labours of the lexicogra- 
pher and the philologist are held in very little repute. 
The individuals, devoting themselves to such pursuits, are 
regarded as mere pioneers in the grand march of human 
science, destined only to clear that ground, which others 
are to have the glory of occupying. Whatever specious- 
ness there may be in this opinion, .it is nevertheless certain, 
that, as long as the knowledge of things is only to be at- 
tained through the medium of words, he* that extends the 
boundaries of philological learning, becomes an important 
contributor to the intellectual interests of his fellow-men. 

Of such a nature were the benefits conferred on the li- 
terature of his country by the subject of the present me- 
moir, whose reputation, as a philologist and antiquarian, 
will only be forgotten when the language and literature of 
Wales shall have ceased to be objects of interest. 

Edward Llwyd was born, about the year 1670, at Llan- 
vorda, in Cardiganshire, the residence of his family, which 
was of considerable respectability. . In the year 1687, he 
became a member of Jesus College, Oxford, where he had 
for his tutor Dr. Plot, Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum. 
It is, most probably, to this connection that we must ascribe 
his early attachment to natural history, in which he had 
made such rapid proficiency, that, upon Dr. Plot's resigna- 
tion of his office, in 1690, as Keeper of the Museum, Llwyd, 
then only twenty years of age, was appointed his successor. 
He seems, upon receiving this appointment, to have de- 
voted much of his time to the studies particularly connected 



338 

with it ; and several papers by him, on subjects of natural 
history, may be seen in the Philosophical Transactions of 
that period*. It was not, however, until 1699, that he 
published his most important work of this character, en- 
titled " Lithophylacii Britannici Iconographia," which was 
printed at the united expense of Lords Somers, Dorset, 
and Montague, Sir Isaac Newton, Sir Hans Sloane, and 
four other eminent characters, who were desirous of evin- 
cing, in this unusual manner, their respect for the writer's 
attainments and talentsf. It is certain, then, that he had, 
at the time in question, arrived at a respectable rank in the 
republic of letters. 

But, whatever attention he may have bestowed on the 
study of natural history, his favourite pursuit, and one to 
which his genius particularly inclined him, was the investi- 
gation of antiquities, and especially of such as related to 
this island. To this object he devoted himself at an early 
period with unwearied assiduity, and formed a very com- 
prehensive project for illustrating the ancient languages 
and history of Great Britain. This, indeed, seems now to 
have become the grand aim of his existence, and, such was 
the general confidence in his peculiar qualifications for the 
undertaking, that a public subscription was established for 
enabling him to travel, with a view to the extension of his 
antiquarian and other researchesj. 

* See Nos. 166, 200, 208, 213, 229, 243, 269, 291,334,335,336,337, 
462, and 467, all of which are the work of E. Llwyd. They relate chiefly 
to natural history ; but there are also some on antiquarian and philological 
subjects. 

t A new edition of this work, with the addition of several of Llwyd's 
letters on fossils, was published by J. Huddesford, in 1760. 

t It appears that Llwyd was indebted principally, for the patronage and 
pecuniary assistance he received on this occasion, to the exertions of Sir 
Thomas Mansel, Bart., of Margam, to whom he accordingly dedicated the 
first volume of his " Arehaeologia." 



339 

The precise date of this event is uncertain, but it is to 
be inferred from some letters of Edward Llwyd, still ex- 
tant, that he had completed his travels before 1701*, in 
which year, it also appears, he took his degree of Master 
of Arts. His travels occupied a space of five years, dur- 
ing which he visited Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Cornwall, 
and Brittany; and the result of his journey was many 
valuable collections on antiquarian and philological sub- 
jects, as well as considerable additions to a cabinet of fos- 
sils he had previously formed, and which enabled him, on his 
return, to publish his principal production of this nature 
above noticed. But the main object of his travels was the 
collection of materials for his projected work on the anti- 
quities of Great Britain ; and, to judge from what he gave 
the world and the unpublished MSS. he left, his aim was ac- 
complished with considerable success. 

It appears, however, notwithstanding the rich fruit of 
his researches, that he had some obstacles to encounter in 
the countries through which he passed. Even in Wales, 
where he might least have anticipated any interruption of 
his laudable designs, it is said he was refused access to 
some principal libraries t, the owners of which must have 
been actuated by a narrowness of feeling, of which, it may 
be hoped, the examples were not numerous. His own ac- 
count, indeed, is, that he " generally, throughout Wales, 
received the utmost civility from persons of all qualities, 
not only as to hospitality, but also in their readiness in 
communicating any MS., and in mentioning or shewing any 
thing in the neighbourhood, whether inscriptions or other 

* See his letter to Mr. Davies of Llanercb, in the Cambrian Register, 
vol. i. p. 320. 

t This isstated in all the biographical notices which have yet appeared, 
and is also traditionally known in Wales. 



340 

particulars, that might seem to deserve notice*." The ex- 
ceptions to this " general" practice, it may therefore be 
presumed, were but few ; and many reasons may be as- 
signed for Llwyd's omission to particularise them. He 
has, however, left room for conjecture in the names he 
has enumerated of those, to whose affability he was most 
indebted, among whom Sir Roger Mostyn, of Mostyn, in 
Flintshire, fills a conspicuous place. Besides his exclu- 
sion from certain libraries, our traveller had also to sub- 
mit to the occasional ridicule of such as had not talent 
or generosity enough to comprehend the nature of his 
enterprise, and who, accordingly, seemed to ascribe it to a 
spirit of literary Quixotism, rather than to a rational thirst 
after the hidden stores of antiquity +. And, to crown the 
whole, while passing through France, with which country 
we were then at war, he had the misfortune to incur the 
suspicions of the French authorities, who caused him to 
be apprehended as a spy, and seized all his papers ; but, 
after a short incarceration, he was released, through the in- 
terference of some persons of distinction in England, and 
permitted to resume his interesting researches^ . 

In 1707, — about eight or nine years, we may presume, 
after the completion of his travels, — he published the first 
volume of his projected work, in folio, under the title of 

* See the English Preface to the il Archaeologia Britannica." 
f The passage, in which he alludes to this circumstance, occurs in the 
dedication prefixed to his " Arebaeologia," and is as follows : " The fa- 
tigues of five years' travels through the most retired parts of her Majesty's 
kingdoms I bore without reluctancy, and, which was the greater task, 
though always requisite in undertakings out of the common road, heard 
with patience the remarks of those whose education or natural talent dis- 
posed them to ridicule." 

X His papers were, on this occasion, examined by several priests and Je- 
suits, to whom they were wholly unintelligible. 



341 

" Archaeologia Britannica," devoted exclusively to " Glos- 
sography." It is divided into the ten following heads : — 1 . 
Comparative Etymology. 2. Comparative Vocabulary of the 
languages of Britain and Ireland. S. An Armoric Gram- 
mar, translated out of the French*. 4. An Armoric Eng- 
lish Vocabulary. 5. Some Words omitted in Dr. Davis's 
Dictionary. 6. A Cornish Grammar. 7. Catalogue of 
British MSS. 8. A British Etymologyf. 9. A Brief In- 
troduction to the Irish or ancient Scottish language. 10. 
An English-Irish Dictionary, with a Catalogue of Irish 
MSS. 

The foregoing particulars bear abundant testimony to 
the learning and industry of the writer, who, it should also 
be mentioned, during the visits he made to the several 
countries before specified, acquired so perfect a knowledge 
of their respective languages, as to be able to write long 
prefaces in each on antiquarian or philological subjects. 
Had his life been sufficiently prolonged, it was his inten- 
tion to publish another volume, at least, of the " Archaeo- 
logia," which was to embrace a lexicographical history of 
British persons and places to be found in ancient recordsj. 
The mass of interesting notices he had prepared for the 
execution of this plan leaves no doubt of the new light it 
would have thrown on the early history of the country, or 
of the addition it would have made to the well-merited fame 
of its author. But his premature death, united perhaps 
with the want of adequate encouragement, frustrated the 
design ; and such detached notices, as he contributed to 

* This was the work of Mr. Williams, the sub-librarian of the Ashmolean 
Museum. 

f Principally by a Mr. Parry, who accompanied the author in most of 
his travels. 

t See the Welsh Preface to the " Archaeologia." 



342 

Gibson's edition of Camden's Britannia, and a few pub- 
lished by Carte, in 1736, are all that the public possess of 
the valuable materials he had amassed for the occasion. 

It has been objected to the " Archaeologia Britannica," 
that its orthography is of an unusual and pedantic descrip- 
tion, and that it tends to obscure the language which it 
was the object of the work to illustrate. The letters, used 
by the author to express the peculiar sounds of the Welsh 
tongue, are, certainly, arbitrary, and such as have never been 
universally adopted by any other writer ; but it must, at 
the same time, be conceded, that, with reference to the 
particular aim of his work, — the explanation of the Welsh 
and its kindred dialects to foreigners,— the letters, when 
once understood, are sufficiently adapted to the occasion. 
At least they have considerably the advantage, in this re- 
spect, of the received orthography of the Welsh language, 
which is distinguished by the singularity of adopting sym- 
bols for the representation of sounds, with which they have 
no alliance in the ordinary acceptation of the world*. 

In March, 1709, the subject of this memoir was elected, 
by the University of Oxford, Esquire Beadle of Divinity ; 
but he was not destined long to retain the office, as he 



* The most objectionable letters of this nature in the Welsh alphabet are 
Dd, LI, and F, which are used to represent Dh, Lh, and V. It is impossi- 
ble now to account for the origin of these corruptions, and it were vain, 
perhaps, to hope for their abolition ; for the law maxim of " malus usus 
abolendus est" seems to be of no weight in Jhis instance. Of all these 
anomalies the substitution of F for V, and the consequent exclusion from the 
alphabet of the last mentioned letter, are the most extraordinary, and the 
most indefensible. The Cymmrodorion, or Metropolitan Cambrian Institu- 
tion, have ventured to go so far in the work of reformation as to restore the 
V ; but it does not appear, that the example has as yet been of any avail 
against the phalanx of prejudices, which stands up arrayed in defence of the 
popular absurdity. 



343 

breathed his last on the 29th of June in the same year. Al- 
though naturally of a robust constitution, his death, it is 
said, was, in a great measure, occasioned by his close ap- 
plication to study, but eventually accelerated by the acci- 
dent of his having lain in an unaired room at the Ashmo- 
lean Museum*. He died at /the early age of thirty-nine, 
and without ever having entered into the matrimonial state. 
Of the abilities and erudition of Edward Llwyd his la- 
bours, especially his Archaeology, are the most satisfactory 
evidence. For natural history he had a great taste, as also 
a most felicitous talent for the acquisition of languages. 
He may, therefore, be placed in the first rank among those 
natives of Wales, who have devoted themselves to philolo- 
gical literature, and, particularly, with reference to Welsh 
and its kindred dialects, of which he will ever be regarded 
as one of the ablest illustrators. It has been asserted that he 
was far from combining, with these acquirements, any genius 
for Welsh poetry, or even an accurate comprehension of 
its peculiar properties, which accounts, it is said, for the 
few poetical illustrations he has introduced into his workt. 
But this is to say no more than what has been said in a 
thousand cases, — that there are certain talents, which are 
not always compatible. It has, indeed, been observed that — 

One science only will one genius fit, 
So vast is art, so narrow human wit. 

But the Life of Edward Llwyd disproves the infallibility 
of the rule, since he was, in an eminent degree, at once a 
philologist and a natural historian. 

* It appears from some anecdotes respecting E. Llwyd, published by a 
Mr. Jones, that it was by his own choice he lay at the Museum, notwith- 
standing the hazard to which he was obviously exposed. 

t See Mr. Lewis Morris's Letter to Mr. Pegge, in the Cambrian Regis- 
terj vol. i. p. 370. 



344 

In his more private character the subject of the present 
memoir is related to have been cheerful and affable, and 
not more eager to acquire information than he was willing 
to impart it to others, deeming, in the well-known words of 
the poet, that 

the worst avarice is that of sense. 

And, when the vast fund of learning, which he had accu- 
mulated in relation to the ancient history of this island, is 
considered, he must have been found a truly valuable ora- 
cle by all who wished to consult him. With the qualities 
here specified he united an indefatigable spirit of enter- 
prise, which no obstacles could divert from its purpose. 
And he was, moreover, distinguished by this peculiarity, 
that, in his pursuit of any inquiry, he never was satisfied 
with the information he possessed, as long as better re- 
mained to be obtained. Hence, in his antiquarian re- 
searches, he was rarely, if ever, content with such know- 
ledge as books alone could supply, but, where it was prac- 
ticable, resorted to ocular proof. In his habits he was of 
a social turn, and delighted to relax himself, after the fa- 
tigues of study, in the company of men of literature and 
science, especially if they were also his countrymen. In 
this manner, while at Oxford, he commonly spent his even- 
ings, enjoying that reciprocal intercourse of mind and ta- 
lent, which forms, perhaps, the most fertile source of in- 
tellectual enjoyment. 

An anecdote is related of him about the close of his life, 
which has, probably, reference to the social circle, to which 
he was thus attached. The famous Dr. Sacheverell, who 
seems to have been influenced by some unaccountable anti- 
pathy against the Welsh, had prevailed upon a person of 
the name of Holdsworth to write a satire on the nation, 
which gave birth to the well-known " Muscipula." Upon 



345 

the publication of the work, Sacheverell, with a malicious 
pleasure, presented a copy to Llwyd, saying, " Here, Mr. 
Llwyd, I give you a poem of banter upon your country, 
which I defy all your countrymen to answer." The Welsh- 
man, naturally irritated by this, resolved to take up the 
cause, and had recourse to Mr. Thomas Richards, then a 
student at Jesus College, and afterwards Rector of Llan- 
vyllin, Montgomeryshire, to enter the lists against Holds- 
worth ; at the same time suggesting the subject, and sup- 
plying him with numerous hints for the treatment of it. 
Richards, in the course of about a week, produced the 
" Hoglandia," the merit of which has been generally ad- 
mitted. It underwent the revision and correction of Llwyd, 
who also wrote a caustic preface to it in elegant Latin. 
But, as he died before it was published, the preface was 
suppressed on account of its severity, and the one, which 
now accompanies it, substituted in its stead*. We may 
collect from this trivial incident^ that Llwyd was strongly 
attached to the national characteristics of his country, and 
that, when they were assailed, he knew how to resent the 
affront. 

As allusion has been made, in the progress of this me- 
moir, to the unpublished MSS. of our great archaeologist, 
some farther particulars respecting them may not be unin- 
teresting here, and especially when considering the singu- 
lar fate to which they have been exposed. 

The MSS. in question were comprised in about one hun- 
dred and fifty volumes of various sizes, embracing, for the 
most part, ancient chronicles and poems, historical and 
antiquarian notices respecting the several countries visited 

* In the composition of this Mr. Richards was assisted by Mr, Anthony 
AIsop, of Christ Church. 



34<6 

by the writer, with numerous transcripts of grants, rolls, 
charters, and other records of this description, relating par- 
ticularly to Wales. There were also many MSS. on sub- 
jects of natural history, as well as several volumes of draw- 
ings connected with the objects of Llwyd's antiquarian re- 
searches. In the year 1713, about four years after the 
death of the owner, it was found necessary to dispose of 
this valuable collection, for the benefit of his estate ; and 
offers of it were accordingly made to the university of Ox- 
ford, to Jesus College, and to the Bishop of St. Asaph*. 
But, owing to some perverse and, as it has since proved, 
lamentable circumstances, the proposal was, in each case, 
rejected, and the MSS. became, eventually, the property 
of Sir Thomas Seabright, of Beechwood, in Hertfordshire. 
In the month of April, 1807, Sir John Seabright disposed 
of the whole collection by public auction ; and such MSS., 
as related to the writer's historical and antiquarian inves- 
tigations, became the property of Sir Watkin Williams 
Wynn, Bart. Some years afterwards the greatest and 
most valuable portion of these interesting remains were 
transmitted to London for the purpose of being bound, 
and were unfortunately consumed in a fire, that destroyed 
the house of the person to whom they were entrusted. So, 
with the exception of the remaining portion still at Wynn- 
stay, it is to be feared, scarcely a vestige now remains 
of the materials, which Edward Llwyd had prepared for 
the completion of his elaborate workf. To the admirers 

_ , . . _ : — 

* The refusal of this prelate to become the purchaser was owing to a 
quarrel he had recently had with Dr. Wynne, Principal of Jesus College. 

f A more detailed account of this literary calamity may be seen in the 
Cambro Bnton, vol. ii. p. 200, as well as in the " Transactions of the Cym- 
nirodorion," vol. i. p. 173. But the account, in both instances, is, in some 
particulars, inaccurate, and especially in stating, that a portion of Mr. 



347 

of Welsh literature this is a subject for sincere regret. For, 
however unfinished and undigested the labours of this dis- 
tinguished scholar and antiquary, they must still have 
proved of eminent value, and the more so, as it is scarcely 
possible, that similar talents and opportunities should again 
be combined to repair the chasm, which their loss has oc- 
casioned. 

Llwyd's MSS. on antiquarian subjects became the property of the late 
Mr. Johnes of Havod, and were destroyed in the fire which consumed his 
elegant mansion. It appears from the Gentleman's Magazine, for 1807, vol. 
Ixxvii. p. 420, that Sir W. W. Wynn, as above mentioned, was the sole 
purchaser of the MSS. alluded to. 



348 



LEWIS MORRIS. 

The subject of the present memoir is one of those indivi- 
duals, who have owed their literary celebrity more to the 
popular reputation they have acquired, than to any works 
which have appeared under their names. Although re- 
spected in the highest degree among his cotemporaries, for 
his profound knowledge of the history and antiquities of his 
native country, as well as for his general information, Lewis 
Morris is as yet known to posterity by but few proofs of his 
learning or genius. His countrymen, however, whether of 
his own or subsequent times, have, with one consent, ac- 
knowledged the justice of his title to these prescriptive ho- 
nours ; and it would ill become us to cast any suspicion on 
the propriety of this decision, by excluding his name from 
a work, so peculiarly designed to commemorate the virtues 
and talents of the Principality. 

Lewis Morris was born at a place called Pentrev Eirian- 
ell, in the parish of Penrhos Llugwy, in the island of An- 
glesey, on St. David's Day, in the year 1702. His father 
originally followed the humble occupation of a cooper, but 
became afterwards a corn-dealer. As Lewis was the 
youngest of five children, it is not probable that he derived 
any great benefit from education. On the contrary, the 
only advantages he seems to have enjoyed in this respect, 
were such as his native village school could supply. These 
must have consisted of mere rudimental instruction of the 
commonest sort, and of such an imperfect introduction to 
the English language, as was customary in the retired parts 
of Wales, at the period in question. Welsh, indeed, was 



349 

the language of his infancy, and he learnt English after- 
wards, as he himself tells us, as an Englishman would 
learn French or any other foreign tongue*. Yet, such 
was the buoyancy of his natural talents, that it raised him 
above all these disadvantages; and his self-improvement 
during his after-life abundantly compensated for these early 
deficiencies. 

Although Lewis Morris's father filled so humble a sphere, 
he contrived to place all his sons in creditable situations ; 
and two of them, besides Lewis, were distinguished by 
their literary turn and general abilities +. Lewis was, at an 
early period, initiated in the business of a land-surveyor, to 
which, however, he never entirely confined himself. Ac- 
cident or patronage soon procured for him a post under 
government, as collector of the customs and salt-duties at 
Holyhead. In this capacity he continued, in all probabi- 
lity, several years, during which period it does not appear 
that he was much distinguished by those literary propen- 
sities, for which he was subsequently remarkable. In the 
year 1737 he exchanged the office, he thus held in Angle- 
sey, for an appointment under the Admiralty, by whom he 
was commissioned to take what he himself calls " an hy- 
drographical survey of the coast of Wales:}:," a part of which 
was published in 1748. 

* See Lis letter to Mr. Pegge in the Cambrian Register, vol. i. p. 368. 

f William Morris, who filled an office in the customs at Holyhead, was a 
good Welsh scholar and botanist, and was a great collector of old MSS. Ri- 
chard was also well versed in his native tongue, and was selected, in con- 
sequence, to superintend the two editions of the Welsh Bible in 1746 and 
1752. He was also a good Welsh poet. Through the interest of his brother 
Lewis, he was, for many years, first clerk in the Navy Office. 

| See his letter to Mr. Pegge, above quoted. 



350 

It was during the time, in which he was occupied in 
making this survey, we may presume, that he first directed 
his attention, in any serious degree, to those topographi- 
cal and antiquarian researches, in which he is known to 
have delighted, and for which the occasion must have af- 
forded him so many opportunities. However, about the 
year last mentioned, his employment under the Admiralty 
was brought to a conclusion, and he was soon afterwards 
nominated surveyor of the crown lands in Wales, collector 
of the customs at Aberdyvi, and superintendent of the 
royal mines in the Principality. In this latter capacity 
he wrote an historical account of the mineralogy of the 
country, within the sphere of his occupation ; but the 
work, whatever may have been its merit, was never pub- 
lished. Of these three offices the only one he retained for 
any length of time was the last, and that, as appears from 
his own account, without any emolument. 

Lewis Morris's residence at this time, and indeed during 
the remainder of his life, was at Penbryn, in Cardigan- 
shire, a house, which belonged to him in right of his se- 
cond wife. At this place he devoted his leisure hours to 
the improvement of his mind in various branches of know- 
ledge, but, as might be expected in a person of his irregu- 
lar education, without any fixed aim. From the natural 
strength of his intellect, however, he was enabled to make 
considerable proficiency in natural philosophy and mathe- 
matics, to which he had been attached from his childhood, 
in addition to those antiquarian pursuits, with which he 
was more peculiarly conversant. Music and botany also 
engaged much of his attention, and his success in the lat- 
ter, which he describes as a " favourite study," united with 
a smattering in physic and surgery, made his house the 



351 

common resort of his poorer neighbours, who were often 
indebted to his medical skill, inconsiderable as it was, for 
the relief of their ailments. 

But, whatever time he may have devoted to these de- 
sultory pursuits, his paramount literary occupation was 
always the history and antiquities of his native land, and in 
which he was, from the natural bent of his mind, pre-emi- 
nently qualified to excel. It is this peculiarity in his intel- 
lectual character, that especially recommends him to these 
pages, which, as there have been former opportunities for 
remarking, are exclusively dedicated to the commemora- 
tion of those natives of Wales, whose worth or genius has 
been identified with the fame of their country. In this re- 
spect, however unknown to public reputation the fruits of 
his labours, Lewis Morris stands conspicuous. He had 
not only devoted considerable time to the enlargement of 
Dr. Davies's Dictionary, but had also planned a lexicogra- 
phical work of his own, not very dissimilar from that pro- 
jected by Edward Llwyd, as noticed in the life of that in- 
dividual. In one of his letters, still extant, he minutely 
describes the nature of his project, and, as it is known he 
had made considerable progress in it, his own words may 
not be unacceptable here. 

In a letter to Mr. Pegge, the antiquary, dated February 
11, 1761, he says # : — " What has taken up my chief atten- 
tion for a good while past is making additions to Dr. 
Davies's British Latin Dictionary, and also another Dic- 
tionary entirely my own, on the plan of Mareni, which has 
taken up my spare hours for many years. I call it c Celtic 
Remains,' or the ancient Celtic empire described in the 
English tongue, being a biographical, critical, historical, 

*■** See the Cambrian Register, vol. i. {>. 369. 



352 

etymological, chronological, and geographical collection of 
Celtic materials towards a British history in ancient times, 
in two parts. The first contains the ancient British and 
Gaulish names of men, places, actions, &c., in an alpha- 
betical order, wherein not only the true and real Celtic 
names are discussed, in the ancient and modern orthogra- 
phy, proved from British authors, and the present names of 
places, &c, but also the mistakes and errors, whether wilful 
or accidental, of the several writers, who have treated of the 
ancient affairs of Britain in any language, are explained 
and rectified. This is a laborious and great work. The 
second part contains the Latinized Celtic names of men 
and places, used by Latin writers who have modelled and 
twisted them to their own language, with an attempt to 
shew what they were in the original Celtic, by comparing 
them with ancient history and the language of the principal 
branches or dialects of that people, the British or Welsh, 
the Irish, the Armoric, and the Cornish. This part is, in 
a great measure, etymological, where fancy has her swing, 
though kept within bounds as much as possible." 

To the execution of this project he devoted a great por- 
tion of his leisure hours ; and the partial result of his la- 
bours (for he did not live to complete them) remains still 
unpublished, and is in the possession of a distinguished 
Welsh scholar, who has long promised to favour the world 
with it. And it is to be hoped, that he has not abandoned 
his design ; since, however imperfect the collections in ques- 
tion may be with reference to the original plan, they can- 
not fail to prove a valuable acquisition to the general stock of 
Welsh literature *. 



* The Rev. Walter Davies, of Manavon, Montgomeryshire, is the gen- 
tleman here alluded to, and, in the second volume of the Cambrian Register. 



353 

Besides the pursuits already enumerated, the fascina- 
tions of the muse had also their attractions for Lewis 
Morris, who, in early life, had distinguished himself as a 
Welsh poet, and particularly in pieces of satire and hu- 
mour. He became, in consequence, in his maturer years, 
the oracle of such of his young countrymen as happened 
to be " smit with the love of song ;" and among these were 
the Rev. Evan Evans, author of " Dissertatio de Bardis," 
and the Rev. Goronw Owen, who became aftewards so ce- 
lebrated as a votary of the Welsh muse. Nor was his as- 
sistance confined to mere literary advice. It was through 
his bounty that the last mentioned individual was supported 
in his studies at Oxford ; and, as he had the good fortune 
to discover his talents, he had thus the generosity to re- 
ward them. Nor was this a solitary instance of his liberal 
feeling in this respect. He was also the means of elevating 
into public notice a harper of the name of Parry, whose 
skill was unrivalled among the Welsh musicians of that 
day, and whose name is still associated with some of the 
happiest recollections of the national minstrelsy. 

During the latter years of his life, Lewis Morris seems 
to have suffered severely under a complication of the most 
serious disorders # , which, at length, terminated his exis- 
tence on the 11th day of April, 1765, in the sixty-third 

published in 1796, it was announced that he was then " preparing the work 
for publication, with numerous additions and improvements." As he has 
since that time had the benefit of something more than the " viginti anno- 
rum lucubrationes" for this purpose, it cauuot be unreasonable to indulge a 
hope that the reverend gentleman's countrymen will soon be favoured with 
this literary desideratum. He must be aware that he has already greatly 
transgressed the Horatian rule. 

* Several of his letters, written in the years 1759, 1760, and 1761, bear 
testimony to the melancholy state of his health, which, he says, was assailed 
by ague, dropsy, and asthma. 

2 A 



354 

year of his age. His remains were interred at Llanbadarn 
Vawr, in the county of Cardigan. 

The subject of this brief memoir was twice married. His 
first wife, to whom he was united in 1729, was a Miss 
Griffith, an heiress of Ty Wrdyn, near Holyhead, by 
whom he had three children, a son and two daughters. 
His second marriage with Miss Lloyd of Penbryn, the 
place of his subsequent residence, was celebrated in 1749; 
and nine children, five sons and four daughters, were the 
fruit of this union. 

Of the talents and attainments of Lewis Morris we are 
to judge rather, as has already been intimated, by the po- 
pular credit they have obtained, than by any proofs of 
them, which he himself has bequeathed to posterity. His 
" Celtic Remains," if made public, might assist us in form- 
ing a more satisfactory estimate of his pretensions to the 
reputation he has thus acquired. But, at present, some 
Welsh poems, published in the " Diddanwch Teuluaidd," 
and a portion of his literary correspondence*, embrace all 
the written evidence which we possess on this point. His 
letters, however, bear abundant testimony to the diligence 
of his researches, and the ingenuity of his conjectures, on 
points connected with the history and antiquities of his 
country. Among his correspondents he numbered Mr. 
Pegge, already mentioned, and Mr. Carte, the historian, 
both of whom seem to have held him in high estimation. 
The former, upon one occasion, in a letter to a third per- 
son, speaks of him as " an excellent scholar, and a perfect 



* This may be seen, principally, in the first and second volumes of the 
Cambrian Register. There are also, we believe, a few unpublished letters 
of his among the Collection of MSS. belonging to the Cymmrodorion, for- 
merly the property of Mr. Owen Jones. 



master of his own country's language and history * ;" and 
the latter was indebted to him for many hints in illustra- 
tion of his History of England, especially the earlier parts 
of it. 

The numerous avocations in which Lewis Morris was 
engaged during the greater portion of his life, united with 
the competence of his pecuniary circumstances, may ac- 
count for his not having appeared in the character of an 
author. What he wanted leisure to accomplish he was 
not urged by necessity to undertake. In a letter to one of 
his friends, dated March 28, 1760, he says, "You wonder 
that I should deal out my knowledge in antiquities by re- 
tail, and in letters, and not print something for the good of 
the public. I never have as yet been in those easy circum- 
stances as to afford time to publish any thing that way cor- 
rectly, nor in those indigent circumstances, as to be obliged 
to do it out of necessity f." It was the intervals of business 
alone, therefore, that he could devote to his favourite pur- 
suits ; and it may be assumed, that, on such occasions, he 
was actuated merely by an attachment to the pursuits them- 
selves, without reference either to profit or fame. 

During the progress of his researches into the history 
and literature of his native country, he formed a consider- 
able collection of Welsh MSS., which are now deposited 
in the Welsh school in London J. Whatever may be the 
value of these, they must be regarded as an additional tes- 

* See Mr. Pegge's letter to Dr, Phillips, in the Cambrian Register, vol. i. 
p. 355. 

f See his letter to Mr. Edward Richards, Cambrian Register, vol. i. p. 
347. 

t The Catalogue of this collection may be seen in the Cambrian Register, 
vol. i. p. 445. The volumes are about eighty in number, and some of them 
very valuable. 

O. A O 



356 

timony to the zeal and industry with which he prosecuted 
his inquiries into those branches of learning, to which his 
mind seems to have been so happily adapted ; and they 
may serve also to enhance our regret, that the memorials 
he has left of his attainments are not more numerous and 
more satisfactory. 



357 



THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ. 

The literary annals of this country supply many instances 
of the union of high talents with the splendid advantages of 
birth and fortune, and of the laudable co-operation of these 
in promoting the interests of philosophy and of learn- 
ing. Of all these examples none merits our regard more 
particularly than the subject of this memoir. However 
elevated above the necessity of resorting to the occupation 
of an author as a means of subsistence, his whole life was 
one of unwearied literary activity, eminently creditable to 
himself, and of distinguished usefulness to the world. The 
most powerful motives, under which some authors may be 
supposed to have written, never produced greater exer- 
tions in this respect than those of Pennant, influenced, as 
they wholly were, by a voluntary attachment to literature 
and science. 

Thomas Pennant was descended from a long line of an- 
cestors *, who had, for some centuries, filled a high rank 
among the gentry of North Wales : he was born at Down- 
ing, in Flintshire, the ancient seat of his family +, on the 

* Among these was the celebrated Tadyr Trevor, who lived in a re- 
mote age, and who, from the number of distinguished families that trace 
their descent from him, may justly be regarded as having added another 
tribe to the fifteen commonly appropriated to North Wales. See a short 
note respecting these in page 319, suprd. The heir of Downing was always 
regarded as the Pencenedl, or head of the family of that name, resembling 
the chief of a clan in Scotland. 

t The patrimonial estate, anciently called Bichton, is situated in the pa- 
rish of Whitford, in the county of Flint. It originally came into the Pen- 
nant family in the time of Gruffydd ab Cynan, Prince of North Wales, in 



358 

fourteenth of June, 1726. He received the rudimental part 
of his education at Wrexham, in Denbighshire, and from 
thence he removed to Oxford. As early as the age of 
twelve, Pennant first contracted that taste for the study of 
natural history, by which his subsequent life was so strongly 
marked. This was occasioned by the perusal of a work on 
ornithology, with which he was presented by one of his 
friends. About eight years afterwards, during a tour into 
Cornwall, the passion thus awakened received a new im- 
pulse, through the friendly encouragement of Dr. William 
Borlase, who directed his attention, in a particular manner, 
to the study of fossils and minerals, thus enlarging the sphere 
of his literary enjoyment, and furnishing a new scope for the 
exercise of his genius. 

In the year 1 754 Pennant visited Ireland with the view 
of extending his favourite researches ; but, after traversing 
a great part of the island, he did not derive much benefit 
from his excursion. " Such," to use his own words, " was 
the conviviality of the country, that his journal proved as 
maigre as his entertainment was gras ; so it was never a 
dish fit to be set before the public *." In the same year 
he was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, which 
evinces, that he had, at this period, united an attachment 

the twelfth century. GrmTydd bestowed it upon Philip O'Piiicdan, one of 
the chieftains who had followed him from Ireland, and who afterwards mar- 
ried the daughter of Madog ah Meilyr, Mr. Pennant's ancestor. In allu- 
sion to his family seat, in his " History of Whitford and Holywell," Mr. 
Pennant says, " I have Cowley's wish realized, a small house and a large 
gavdeira." Since his death, however, Downing has been considerably en- 
larged by his son, David Pennant, Esq., the present worthy proprietor. 
The house was built in 1627, by John Pennant, Esq. 

* See his " Literary Life," written by himself, page 2. It may be pro- 
per here to notice, that, for a considerable portion of this imperfect me- 
moir, the writer is indebted to the interesting work here quoted. 



359 

to antiquarian pursuits with his other literary predilections. 
But his partiality for natural history still continued to main- 
tain an ascendancy, and it may be considered a sufficient 
proof of the proficiency he had attained in it, to state, that, 
in 1755, he entered into a correspondence with the cele- 
brated Linnaeus, to whom he transmitted, two years after- 
wards, a description of a concha anomia recently disco- 
vered, which, having been read before the Royal Society 
of Upsal, caused him to be elected a member of that body. 
In his "Literary Life" he speaks of this mark of distinc- 
tion as the "greatest of his literary honours," and espe- 
cially as it had been obtained at the instance of Linnaeus 
himself. His correspondence with this eminent naturalist 
continued until the age and infirmities of the latter brought 
it reluctantly to a close*. 

In the year 1760 he resigned his fellowship in the So- 
ciety of Antiquaries, owing to a desire he felt to devote 
himself more exclusively to his studies and the tranquillity 
of a private life, uninterrupted by those duties, which his 
continuance in the society might seem to exact from him. 
His recent marriage, and, as he himself states, his compa- 
ratively contracted income, during his father's life-time, 
may also have conduced to this event, by supplying addi- 
tional motives for this temporary retirement. 

Pennant had, about this period, laid the foundation of 
his "British Zoology," his first great work, and that upon 
which his reputation as a naturalist will ever materially 
rest. The first portion of this work, embellished with a 
hundred and thirty-two plates, was published in 1765; and 
it is highly to the credit of the author, that he designed the 
profits to be applied to the benefit of the Welsh charity- 

* Linnaeus died in the year 1778. 



360 

school in London. But his inexperience in literary under- 
takings, and the loss to which he was consequently exposed, 
were the means of defeating his benevolent intention, which, 
however, he was enabled to carry partially into effect, some 
years subsequently, upon the publication of the second edi- 
tion*. 

His zoological researches were interrupted, in 1765, by 
a tour which he made on the continent, in the course of 
which he visited the most remarkable places in France, 
Germany, and Holland. He here became acquainted with 
most of the distinguished literary characters of the age, among 
whom were BufFon, Voltairef, the two Gesners, and Pal- 
las ; and the reception he experienced from them proves 
that his fame had preceded him. BufFon, in particular, 
whose praise must have been peculiarly valuable, expressed 
himself in the most favourable terms of his labours in na- 
tural history. Some literary bickerings had, indeed, taken 
place between them previous to their personal acquaintance, 
but the cordiality with which they met at Paris, proved 
that the asperity of the controversy had not survived the 
occasion of it. And it ought to be added to the credit of 
BufFon, that, with the liberality of a man of genius, he 
made ample atonement for any hostility he might have felt 

* Another instance of his benevolent disposition, connected with this 
work, may here be related. Mr. Richard Morris, brother of Lewis Mor^ 
lis, a notice of whose life has already appeared, had been his agent in the 
publication of this work, and, upon his death, Mr. Pennant permitted his 
widow, then in confined circumstances, to retain the plates, and make what 
advantage she could of them. 

+ Of ms visit to Voltaire Pennant thus speaks : (i At Jersey I visited 
that wicked wit Voltaire. He happened to be in good humour, and was 
very entertaining ; but, in his attempt to speak English, he satisfied us, 
that he was perfect master of our oaths and our curses." See his " Literary 
Life," page 6. 



361 

towards his rival, by the respect with which he frequently 
afterwards quoted his name, and made use of his autho- 
rity*. 

The friendship which Pennant formed also, on this occa- 
sion, with the celebrated Pallas, was not less sincere, nor 
less honourable to the feelings of both ; and our country- 
man, in noticing the event, seems to have regarded it as 
forming an important epoch in his life, since it was the 
means to giving birth to his " History of Quadrupeds," 
one of his best productions. His epistolary intercourse 
with Pallas continued many years, and, as he acknowledges, 
" to his great instruction," and only ceased when the offi- 
cial duties, in which the latter was engaged under the go- 
vernment of Russia, compelled him to relinquish all his 
private correspondence. But Pennant long afterwards con- 
tinued to receive proofs of his unaltered attachment. 

Not long after our author's return from his continental 
tour, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and, 
in 1768, he published a second edition of such part of his 
" British Zoology" as had already appeared, and the pro- 
duce of which, as previously noticed, he appropriated to a 
charitable institution. In the following year he added to 
the work another volume, relating exclusively to the rep- 
tiles and fishes of this island ; and the whole work, com- 
prised in three volumes, he subsequently enriched with a 
hundred and three additional plates, and much new mat- 
terf. 



* Pennant, in alluding, in his " Literary Life," to this literary contest, 
says, " our blows were light, and, I hope, neither of us received any ma- 
terial injury." 

f These additions appeared in a supplementary volume in 1770. A new 
edition of the whole work, in three volumes octavo, has been published 
since the death of the author. 



362 

The mind of Pennant, as he himself truly observes*, 
was not formed to stagnate : it was always in a state of 
progression. No sooner had he exhausted one subject 
than he was employed on another; and the elasticity of 
his genius abundantly supported the natural buoyancy of 
his disposition. Nor did he confine himself to mental 
exertion alone: his bodily activity, while his physical 
powers lasted, was always, at least, as great. Thus, in the 
year 1769, when he had completed his "British Zoology," 
he published, in conjunction with Sir Joseph Banks and 
Mr. Gideon Lotenf, several papers on Indian Zoology: 
these were entirely written by Mr. Pennant, the two indivi- 
duals just mentioned joining merely in the expense of the 
plates that embellished them. Of this work little is now 
known in England ; but it is sufficient for its reputation to 
say, that it was considered worthy of republication on the 
continent, both in German and Latin. In the same year he 
undertook his first journey to the extreme confines of 
Scotland, which, from the comparative ignorance that then 
prevailed respecting the country, must have been regarded 
as an enterprise of no ordinary description. But it is not 
on account of any difficulties, real or imaginary, which 
Pennant may have surmounted on this occasion, that this 
incident is noticed ; it is because the frank and intelligent 
description, which he gave of the country and its inha- 
bitants, first served to dissipate the prejudices of the Eng- 
lish respecting their northern brethren, and opened the 
door to that friendly intercourse between the two nations, 



* See his "Literary Life," p. 9. 

t This gentleman had previously been governor of some of the Dutch 
islands in the East Indies, where he had made many valuable discoveries in 
natural history, all of which he very liberally communicated to Mr. Pennant, 
permitting him, at the same time, to make what use he pleased of them. 



363 

which has never since been suspended. Surely, then, it is 
no mean praise to be able to say of him, that he was thus the 
founder of a system of conciliation, which had for its basis 
patriotism, and philanthropy for its object. And the flat- 
tering communications he received, upon the first publica- 
tion of his Tour in 1771, bear ample testimony to the prac- 
tical utility of his exertions*. 

During the year, in which Mr. Pennant visited Scotland, 
he was honoured by the Royal Academy of Drontheim 
with being elected a member of that body; and, in 1771, 
the University of Oxford paid a similar tribute to his lite- 
rary reputation, by conferring on him, in full convocation, 
the degree of Doctor of Laws, on which occasion his 
name was introduced in a manner the most complimentary. 
The satisfaction, therefore, which the " laudari a laudatis 
viris" may be supposed to supply, must have been enjoyed 
in an eminent degree by the subject of this memoir. 

In 1772 Pennant made a second journey into Scotland 
for the purpose of pursuing, or rather of completing, his 
praiseworthy designs respecting that country, in his route 
through which he received many gratifying marks of the 
estimation in which his exertions had been already held. 
Not only was he loaded with the thanks and compliments 
of private individuals, but many corporate towns, and Edin- 

* On this occasion, he says, he " laboured earnestly to conciliate the af- 
fections of the two nations, so wickedly and studiously set at variance by 
evil-designing people." Among the many " very flattering letters" which 
he received on the publication of his tour, was one from the Earl of Kin- 
iioul, in which that nobleman says, " I have perused your book, for which 
I return my hearty thanks, with the greatest pleasure. Every reader must 
admire the goodness of the author's heart; and the inhabitants of this part 
of the kingdom should express the warmest gratitude for your candid re- 
presentation of them and their country." This, rt will be seen by the 
sequel, was done in the most liberal manner. 



364 

burgh among the number, presented him with their freedom, 
so that, as he himself says, "he returned rich in civic 
honours*." Nor were these rewards bestowed upon him 
for mere speculative benefits : he was the means, by the 
suggestions he offered, of forming several public establish- 
ments, especially fisheries, which proved ultimately pro- 
ductive of the most solid national advantages. From Scot- 
land he extended his tour, on this occasion, to the He- 
brides, and, in 1774, published an account of the whole, 
illustrated by many interesting engravings. 

The spirit of travelling, with the view especially of making 
topographical discoveries within the British dominions, 
seems, at this period, exclusively to have possessed the 
mind of Pennant. From the commencement of the year 
1773, to the close of 1777, he was almost entirely engaged 
in visiting various parts of the islandf, and, in the early 
part of the period in question, he made an excursion to the 
Isle of Man ; but the accidental loss of the notes he took on 

* See his "Literary Life," p. 16. 

t His tours on this occasion were, principally, in the northern counties of 
England ; but he also visited several other parts of the kingdom. And all his 
journies, he tells us, were made on horseback, a mode of travelling for 
which his partiality continued to the latest part of his life. While at Buck- 
ingham, in 1776, to adopt his own words, he "narrowly escaped a death 
suited to an antiquary" : the old church, which he had visited in the morn- 
ing, fell down a few hours afterwards, and he thus escaped being buried in 
its ruins.— See his " Literary Life," p. 24. During all his journies, alluded 
to in this note, he was accompanied by Moses Griffith, a self-taught artist 
and native of Wales, whom Mr. Pennant had taken under his patronage 
and protection. His talent for drawing, as the illustrations of Pennant's 
works abundantly prove, Was very great ; and the public are, no doubt, in- 
debted to him for numerous interesting scenes, as well as sketches of anti- 
quarian remains, that might otherwise have never been known. The genius 
of this man was, indeed, of the highest order, and of a remarkable versa- 
tility. — He was not only a limner, but a good engraver. — See the "Lite- 
rary Life," passim. 



365 

the latter occasion has deprived the public of the benefit of 1 
his observations. His other tours have been published at 
different times, and serve to confirm the opinion, previously 
formed, of the candour and discrimination which he em- 
ployed in all his topographical researches. Topography, 
indeed, next to natural history, appears to have been his 
favourite pursuit; and, in this interesting department of 
literature, few, if any, have united the " utile dulci" with 
happier effect. 

In 1778 Pennant published the first volume of his " Tour 
in North Wales," a work which particularly recommends 
him to these pages # . In addition to a great fund of valu- 
able topographical information, it abounds in interesting 
historical, and biographical sketches, connected with that 
part of the principality. This work has become the basis, 
on which most subsequent tourists in North Wales have 
erected their literary superstructures ; and the general ac- 
curacy of its details abundantly justifies the distinction*)-. 

After the year 1777 Pennant's ardour for visiting dif- 
ferent countries had considerably subsided, or seems rather 
altogether to have declined. A second matrimonial con- 
nexion, which he formed soon afterwards with the sister of 
Sir Roger Mostyn, Bart., of Mostyn, in Flintshire, gave, 
as he tells usj, new charms to his fire-side ; and his lite- 
rary labours were, in consequence, for a few years, chiefly 



* The second and last volume of the tour, under the title of " A Journey 
to Snowdon," appeared in 1781. 

f Mr. Pennant, in all his journies through Wales, was accompanied by 
the Rev. John Lloyd, of Caerwys, an eminent Welsh scholar and anti- 
quary, to whom he acknowledges himself considerably indebted for much 
valuable information, which he might not otherwise have obtained. 

t See his « Literary Life," p. 31. 



366 

confined to miscellaneous papers, and the revisal of his 
former productions. In 1782, however, he published a 
new topographical work, entitled " A Journey from Chester 
to London," which was the result of the frequent excur- 
sions he had made along that road, and of which, accord- 
ing to his constant practice on such occasions, he had kept 
accurate journals. This little work bears the same cha- 
racter as the rest of our author's tours : it is at once in- 
structive and entertaining. 

Notwithstanding the number and variety to which Pen- 
nant's literary labours had already extended, the mental 
vigour of the author continued still unabated, and his mine 
of intelligence unexhausted. Two years after his " Journey 
from Chester to London" appeared, he published his last 
great work on natural history, under the title of " Arctic Zo- 
ology," which embraces, in two volumes, an interesting his- 
tory of the animals of North America, as well as of those of 
the northern parts of Europe and Asia. This work was 
soon afterwards translated into German* and French, and 
was also very favourably received in America, where it 
procured for the author the distinction of being elected a 
member of the Philosophical Society at Philadelphia. He 
had previously had a similar, and, it may be added, a 
greater honour conferred on him by the Royal Academy of 
Sciences at Stockholm, as also by the Antiquarian Societies 
of Edinburgh and Perthf. In 1787 he enlarged his "Arctic 
Zoology" by a supplement, comprising a systematic de- 

* This was done by Professor Zimmerman, with whom Pennant had long 
been on terms of particular intimacy, and to whom he expresses his obli- 
gation for much information of the greatest importance to his researches hi 
natural history. 

t These events happened in the years 1784 and 1?>85. 



367 

scription of the reptiles and fishes of North America, as well 
as several other interesting additions to the original work. 

It might be considered tedious to dwell, with any minute- 
ness, on the remaining works of this voluminous yet agree- 
able writer. It may sufficiently answer the aim of this 
humble memoir, and do equal justice to the literary repu- 
tation of Pennant, to give a general account of the princi- 
pal labours, to which the latter years of his valuable life 
were devoted. In 1790 he published his "History of 
London," a work replete with the usual store of anecdote, 
whether historical, antiquarian, or biographical, which dis- 
tinguishes all his productions of this nature ; and the avi- 
dity with which it was received by the public, as well as 
the many editions of it that have since appeared, abun- 
dantly vindicates its claim to popular favour. To this pro- 
duction succeeded, in 1793, his " Literary Life," which gives 
a minute and unassuming detail of his literary labours down 
to that period, and to which these pages are, of necessity, con- 
siderably indebted. Among the works of his latter years 
is his " History of the Parishes of Whitford and Holy- 
well," of which, from his local advantages, united with the 
particular nature of his pursuits, he was peculiarly qualified 
to give an interesting description. The work, therefore, as 
may be conjectured, is enlivened by his accustomed variety 
of historical and antiquarian research, though obviously 
written with all the excusable partiality of one, who felt an 
ardent attachment to the land of his birth*. 

In the beginning of 1798, at no very remote distance from 
the close of his active and useful career, appeared the first 
two volumes of his " Outlines of the Globe," which he had 
projected some years before, and of which, as its title imports, 
the plan was most comprehensive. Such was Pennant's in- 



* This was published in 1796. 



368 

defatigable industry, that, in the short space of four years*, 
he had prepared nearly the whole work, embracing four- 
teen quarto volumes, for publication, and two of them, in 
addition to those published by the author, have, since his 
death, been given to the world by his son, David Pennant, 
Esq. This valuable production, as it was his last, may be 
regarded as the appropriate apex of that literary monu- 
ment, which the author has so honourably reared to his me- 
moryf. To his numerous lucubrations, of a less important 
nature than those specifically noticed, a general allusion has 
already been made. Besides some political observations, 
which the turbulent spirit of the times occasionally drew 
from his pen, they embrace tracts, of a more permanent 
character, on questions of science, and especially natural 
history ; nor are these unaccompanied by the sallies of hu- 
mour, or the strains of the musej. 

* See his " Literary Life," p. 41, where he tells us, that, with the ex- 
ception of one volume, the whole work was composed in the time above 
mentioned. 

f The plan of this work is an imaginary voyage to all the known coun- 
tries of the globe, and the following are the words in which the writer gives 
an account of his project, or rather of what he had then accomplished. 
" Respecting these countries," he says, " I have collected every informa- 
tion possible, from books ancient and modern, from the most authentic and 
some living travellers of the most respectable characters of my time. I 
mingle history, natural history, accounts of the coasts, climates, and every 
thing which I thought could instruct or amuse. They are written on impe- 
rial quarto, and, when bound, make a folio of no inconsiderable size, and 
are illustrated, at a vast expense, by prints taken from books, or by charts 
and maps, and by drawings by the skilful hand of Moses Griffith, and by 
presents from friends. With the bare possibility of the volumes relative to 
India, none of these books are to be printed in my life-time, but to rest on 
my shelves, the amusement of my advancing age."-— See his ** Literary 
Life," p. 40. The four volumes already published are those here alluded 
to relating to India. It may be hoped, however, that the literary world is 
yet to be favoured with some other portion of this interesting production. 

X Among his lighter productions may be noticed his " Remarks on the 



369 

But Pennant's literary labours were not confined to those 
works only, of which he was the sole author. He pro- 
moted several others, to which he not only extended his 
patronage and encouragement, as well as his literary aid, 
but, in some instances, most liberally underwent the ex- 
pense of the publication. Mr. Lightfoot's " Flora Scotica," 
and Mr. Cor diner's " Antiquities and Scenery of the North 
of Scotland," may be particularly noticed as illustrative of 
Pennant's generosity in this respect, and tend, in an emi- 
nent degree, to prove the disinterestedness of his views in 
all his literary designs, which were ever more directed 
to the public information and the advancement of letters, 
than to his own private emolument 5 *. 

Pennant's own account of himself, in his "Literary Life," 
terminates in 1793, to the close of which year his health and 
felicity had experienced but few encroachments^ : a " mens 
sana in corpore sano" had been his peculiar good fortune. 
Early in the following year the scene began to present a 
lowering aspect : the illness and subsequent death of a be- 
loved and amiable daughter threw a shade of melancholy 

Patagoniaus," " Free Thoughts on the Militia Laws," " Letter from a Welsh 
Freeholder to his Representative,'' " Letter to a Member of Parliament on 
Mail-Coaches," several poems and pieces of humour, with a variety of 
papers on natural history, which have been inserted in the "Philosophical 
Transactions." 

* Among the productions promoted by Pennant, may be mentioned 
several translations of topographical works, by Dr. John Reinhold Foster, 
He also assisted Gough in his edition of Camden's Britannia, in that part 
especially relating to North Wales. The " Flora Scotica," above mentioned, 
which was printed entirely at Pennant's expense, embraces two octavo 
volumes, and is illustrated by thirty-seven plates. It appeared in J 777. 

f For the substance of what is here related respecting the latter years of 
Mr. Pennant's life, this memoir is indebted to the notices on the subject 
by the present David Pennant, Esq. in his Preface to the third volume of 
the " Outlines of the Globe." 

2 B 



370 

over his spirits, which was never afterwards entirely re- 
moved. In 1795 he had also the misfortune to fracture 
the patella of one of his knees, while descending a flight 
of stairs, and continued to suffer, more or less, from the 
accident during the remainder of his life. It was not, how- 
ever, until 1796, that his bodily ailments were on the point 
of assuming a more serious character : about this time he 
was first afflicted with several pulmonary symptoms, that 
indicated the approach of some dangerous malady. He still 
persevered, however, in devoting his leisure hours to literary 
occupations, and, during the greatest part of 1797, was 
busily engaged, both in revising his works already pub- 
lished, and in preparing others for the press, thus proving 
that the vigour of his mind had triumphed over his corpo- 
ral sufferings. 

For some time the natural strength of his constitution 
continued to support him under his increasing infirmities ; 
but, towards the close of 1798, swellings in the legs, and 
other alarming prognostics, announced that the fatal crisis 
of his disorder was at no great distance. But his usual 
buoyancy of spirits, supported by a resignation which is 
the necessary result of habitual piety, did not wholly for- 
sake him : he contemplated his approaching end with true 
Christian fortitude, and, on the sixteenth day of Decem- 
ber, 1798, while in his seventy-third year, resigned his 
breath in the arms of his family, and accompanied by the 
sincere regret of a large circle of friends. 

Of the general character of the subject of this memoir 
it might be said, in a few words, that in his religious prin- 
ciples he was strictly orthodox, and consequently a staunch 
friend to the established church; in his politics zealously 
and sincerely devoted to the true spirit of the constitution ; 
and exemplary in the fulfilment of all the duties of private 



371 

life. To say this of him might be sufficient for all the 
purposes of an honest and dignified reputation ; yet it can* 
not but be more satisfactory to the reader to receive the 
testimony of his son, the present respectable representative 
of this ancient family*, who, in the place adverted to in a 
preceding note, has supplied the following interesting and 
more copious information upon the subject. — " His reli- 
gious principles," says the writer, " were pure and fervent, 
yet exempt from bigotry* Though firmly attached to the 
established church, he, by his writings and conduct, conci- 
liated the esteem of those of a different persuasion. A 
steady friend to our excellent constitution, he ever laboured 
to preserve it entire. This induced him to petition for. the 
reform of some abuses during the administration of Lord 
North, at a period, when the influence of the crown was 
supposed to have exceeded its due bounds. This brought 
him forward, in later times, with additional energy, to resist 
the democratic spirit, which threatened tenfold evilsf. The 
duties of a magistrate he exercised with candour, and with 
a temperate yet zealous warmth to protect the oppressed. 
His benevolence to the poor was unbounded, and his re- 
peated exertions to relieve the wants of a populous neigh- 

* The eldest son of this gentleman was married, in 1822, to the only 
daughter of the Duke of Marlborough, but has lately been left a widower. 

f This alludes, it may be presumed, to an association of sixteen parishes 
in the county of Flint, which took place in 1792, for the purpose of resist- 
ing the revolutionary principles then spreading throughout the country. Mr. 
Pennant presided at the first meeting, which was attended by many indi- 
viduals of the first distinction in the neighbourhood ; and the association 
proved afterwards of material service in stemming the tide of disaffection 
to which it was opposed. It may be added, that Mr. Pennant was princi- 
pally instrumental in the formation of this society, some account of which 
may be seen in the Appendix to his " Literary Life," p. 135—140. 

2b2 



372 

iourhood, by the importation of corn in times of scarcity, 
were truly munificent. Temperate in diet, he enjoyed the 
fruits of abstinence, and, until a few years previous to his 
decease, possessed an unusual share of health and vigour. 
His conversation was lively, replete with instruction, and 
brilliant with sallies of true humour ; yet too great sensi- 
bility at times lowered his natural flow of spirits, and occa- 
sioned severe dejection." 

This general portrait of Pennant, — which, it may be 
hoped, will not be deemed less valuable, because dictated 
by filial affection, — leaves nothing material to be supplied. 
Something, however, may be added with respect to the 
lighter traits of his character. With the cheerfulness of 
disposition which he commonly enjoyed, he united a par- 
ticular attachment to the convivial circle*, especially when 
enlivened by wit, or refined by intelligence ; and, from his 
own qualifications in this respect, we may conclude how 
much he must have contributed, on such an occasion, to 
the common enjoyment. To the world of fashion too, 
where his literary distinction, not less than his rank in so- 
ciety, made him at all times a welcome visitor, he was con- 
stant in his devoirsf, omitting no opportunity to temper the 
severity of his literary pursuits by a participation in that 
innocent gaiety, which, while it relaxes the mind, seldom 
fails also to improve and enlarge the understanding. The 
general amenity and benevolence of his disposition have al- 
ready been partially alluded to ; and of these his affec- 
tionate notice of his parents in his " History of Whitford 
and Holywell," and the attachment which he evinced to a 



* See his " Literary Life/' p. 11. 
t Ibid. 



373 

favourite servant, as described in the same work, may be 
selected as instances*. But his whole life was in happy 
accordance with these amiable characteristics. To say that 
he possessed, with these, no particular foibles, would be to 
assert that he had triumphed over the doom of our com- 
mon nature; but they were such as might be identified 
with those eccentricities, which have often been found al- 
lied with the brightest genius, and are not incompatible 
with the most eminent virtues. They were those light 
shades, which only served to render more brilliant the lof- 
tier tints of the picture. 

On Pennant's literary reputation it may not be necessary 
to dwell very long, after the occasional remarks on the sub- 
ject that have appeared in the progress of this memoir. 
His genius, if not of the highest order, was, it must be ad- 
mitted, far above mediocrity; and the advantages which 
he thus deriyed from nature, were signally improved by ex- 
tensive reading and unwearied research. As a natural his- 
torian he stands avowedly in the first rank ; and the avidity 
with which his works on this subject were received by the 
public, proves how successfully he had laboured in the 
hitherto novel attempt to communicate a popular character 
to this branch of literature. As a writer in general, his 
talents were singularly prolific, but, at the same time un- 
equal ; and, if he is not to be classed with those authors 
who have fathomed the depths of reasoning, or ascended 
the heights of science, it may be because the subjects he 
selected were not of such a nature as to demand the gra- 
vity of philosophical investigation. His manner of treating 
them, too, had a manifest tendency rather to the orna- 



* See pages 15, 16, and 103, and also 110 for an affecting allusion to the 
loss of bis daughter. 



374 

mental than the profound ; he was content to amuse and 
instruct where he had no temptation to be abstruse. Works 
of a zoological or topographical nature, — and such for the 
most part are Pennant's, — are, of all, perhaps, the most 
susceptible of that lively and agreeable illustration, in which 
the subject of this memoir appears to have delighted ; and 
it is no mean praise to be able to say of him, that, in 
this species of writing, he has presented a model, which 
none of his imitators have surpassed. It is peculiarly his 
merit, as there has been already occasion to notice, that, 
" as a tourist, he was the first to enliven the dryness of to- 
pographical research with historical and biographical anec- 
dote, and to illustrate description with the decorations of 
the pencil* ;" and, in this point of view, his native country 
must ever be particularly beholden to him. With a true 
spirit of patriotism he first disclosed the popular road to 
those literary treasures, which had hitherto been concealed 
within the mountains of Wales. 

It must not be forgotten, in estimating the literary cha- 
racter of the writer before us, that he was also a poet. His 
offerings, however, at the shrine of the muses, at least 
such as have seen the light, were but fewf; but some of 
them would not have disgraced a loftier name. However, 
it is on his more known productions that his reputation 

* These are the words of the writer of the Preface to the edition of Pen- 
nant's " Tour from London to the Isle of Wight," published in 1801. With 
reference to the " decorations of the pencil" here alluded to, it may be of 
interest to state, that his various works are embellished by considerably 
more than eight hundred plates, from which we may form an estimate of 
the benefit the art of engraving must have derived from his single exertions. 

t Three of these may be seen in his t: Literary Life," pp. 11, 15, and 
20. Of these the " Ode, occasioned by a Lady professing an attachment 
to Indifference," may be noticed as particularly indicative of the writer's 
poetical talents. 



375 

must rest ; and, with respect to these, we are told that his 
powers of composition were remarkable for their celerity, 
and that he rarely corrected his first thoughts*, which 
proves at once the retentiveness of his memory, and the 
facility with which he could call into operation the stores 
of his mind. In a word, in whatever view we regard the 
distinguished individual whose life is here so faintly and 
imperfectly traced, we cannot but consider him as shedding 
a lustre on the land of his birth, in proportion with the ac- 
knowledged benefits which he conferred on the great re- 
public of letters. 

* See the Preface to the third volume of the " Outlines of the Globe." 



376 



REV. PETER ROBERTS. 

The difficulty of writing with propriety on events of re- 
cent occurrence has always been acknowledged. The his- 
torian has rarely been successful in describing, with im- 
partial fidelity, the transactions of his own times ; nor has 
the biographer always drawn with accuracy the portrait of 
his cotemporaries. Yet, however true this may be as af- 
fects the opinions either of the biographer or historian, to 
which private friendship in one case, or political prejudices 
in the other, might naturally give a wrong bias, it can 
scarcely be of any weight, as it regards the narration of 
facts. On the contrary, the authority of the writer in this 
respect must always be in proportion with the opportunities 
he has had of witnessing what he relates ; and in this view 
it is that, in the lives of eminent men, the testimony of 
their cotemporaries, especially of such as have had a per- 
sonal knowledge of them, becomes peculiarly valuable. 

These preliminary remarks have been suggested by the 
following memoir, which is from the pen of a gentleman, 
who had the happiness of being intimately acquainted with 
the learned individual to whom it is dedicated. It details, 
with a felicitous ease of style, the more prominent events 
of his life, and is wholly exempt from those false colour- 
ings, with which the partiality of friendship, or the blind- 
ness of admiration, too often supplies the place of truth. 
As our own resources would not enable us to offer any 
thing of equal authenticity with the following " plain un- 
varnished tale," the reader will not regret, that it has been 



377 

adopted as an ornament to the pages of the Cambrian 
Plutarch*. 

The late Rev. Peter Roberts was born in the parish of 
Rhiwabon, in the county of Denbigh, about the year 1760. 
His father, John Roberts, was the younger son of a free- 
holder in that parish, and descended from a family, which 
had, for many generations, occupied their small domain, 
called Tai'n-y-Nant, without any material change in their 
circumstances. He was by trade a clock-maker, and esta-^ 
blished himself in that business, first at his native village, 
Rhiwabon, but afterwards removed to Wrexham. He was 
an honest and respectable man ; but, though he enjoyed 
the means, he inconsiderately neglected the opportunity 
of establishing his family in a state of comfortable compe- 
tency. His wife was nearly allied to the ancient family of 
the Middletons of Chirk Castle. 

Their son and only child, Peter Roberts, was sent, at a 
very early age, to the grammar-school at Wrexham, which 
was then in great repute, under the care of the Rev. Mr. 
Davis, afterwards rector of Llanarmon Dyfryn Ceiriog. 
His early proficiency was very conspicuous, and gave, even 
at that time, no obscure indication of his subsequent cele- 
brity. He employed his leisure hours upon various me- 
chanical curiosities, for which he displayed a remarkable 
genius. Of music he continued, at all times, to be an en- 
thusiastic admirer, and he was enabled, when very young, 
to enjoy his favourite amusement, by playing upon a dulci- 
mer of his own construction. He also attempted to make 
a telescope. 

* This memoir first appeared in tu« Cambro-Briton ; and we wish we 
were at liberty to disclose the name of the writer. As it is, however, we 
have only to add, that it is here republished, with but very few variations, 
and those merely verbal. One or two trivial passages are omitted. 



378 

Having remained at Wrexham until the age of fifteen or 
sixteen, he removed to the grammar school at St. Asaph, 
and, as is generally understood, in the double character of 
pupil and assistant. The school at St. Asaph was then in 
a very flourishing state, under the superintendence of the 
Rev. Peter Williams, afterwards vicar of Bettws Alergeley, 
and, besides a great number of pupils from the neighbour- 
ing counties, could boast of several from the sister kingdom 
of Ireland. To some of the latter, John Roberts was, na- 
turally enough from his situation in the school, engaged as 
a private tutor; and a circumstance happened at this time, 
which gave a more permanent character to the connexion 
between him and his young pupils. 

Dr. Usher, then a Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, 
and afterwards professor of astronomy in that university, 
came over at this period to North Wales, and resided there 
for several months. By some accident now unknown, or, 
perhaps, by direct information from the Irish scholars, he 
became acquainted with Peter Roberts, and, as he highly 
appreciated his character and talents, strongly encouraged 
him to transfer his studies, under his auspices, to the uni- 
versity of Dublin. With this proposal, which, in his finan- 
cial difficulties, presented, probably, the only chance of an 
university education, and obviously opened a wide field to 
his literary ambition, our young student readily complied, 
and, entering as sizar in that celebrated seat of learning, 
yery soon attracted the notice, and secured the permanent 
esteem, of his superiors in the colleger- 
It is understood, that his old pupils from St. Asaph, as 



* " A few months before his decease," the writer here adds, " he ex- 
pressed most strougly to one of his friends a deep sense of gratitude for the 
kindness which he had experienced from the senior fellows in his youth." 



379 

they successively entered the university, availed themselves 
of his private tuition. Astronomy and the oriental lan- 
guages were, at this time, his favourite studies, and, such was 
his proficiency in the former, that his patron, Usher, con- 
templated him as well qualified to succeed him in the pro- 
fessorship. Mr. Roberts himself had also considered the 
astronomical chair as the great object of his ambition ; but 
a different arrangement took place when the vacancy ac- 
tually happened, and the office was bestowed upon another 
person, who, with whatever feelings we may reflect on the 
disappointment of our learned countryman, must be uni- 
versally admitted to be well deserving of this, high honour. 
It is believed, that this disappointment, the first of a seri- 
ous nature the subject of this memoir had ever experienced, 
was peculiarly painful to him. 

About the commencement of the French Revolution he 
travelled in the south-west of France for the benefit of his 
health, and remained, for some time, at the waters of Bar- 
reges, near the Pyrennees. Of this tour he left among his 
papers a manuscript journal, which, however, is not suf- 
ficiently interesting, nor does it appear to have been ever 
intended, for publication. Returning to Ireland, he was 
employed as private tutor in several families. He was after- 
wards engaged to superintend the education of the present 
Lord Lanesborough, and his cousin, now Colonel Latouche. 
Them he eventually accompanied to Eton, where his character 
became more generally known, and he had an opportunity of 
acquiring many valuable friends, among whom he used par- 
ticularly to enumerate Bishop Douglas, Mr. Bryant, and 
Dr. Heath. By these and other friends he was encouraged 
to publish his " Harmony of the Epistles," the preparation 
of which had occupied many years of his life ; and, through 
their recommendation, the University of Cambridge printed 
the work at their own expense. The high character of 



380 

this publication, the most laborious and valuable of all his 
works, fully justifies the liberal patronage of the Univer*- 
sity, and will, unquestionably, transmit the author's name 
as an eminent scholar and divine to future ages. 

When the education of his pupils was completed, he re- 
tired to his native country, subsisting upon two annuities, 
which he received from his former pupils, Lords Lanes- 
borough and Bolton. His time was now at his own dis- 
posal, and this was, perhaps, the first uninterrupted pos-^ 
session of it, which he had ever enjoyed. 'The illustration 
of his native language, and of the ancient history of the 
Gymry, became now his favourite pursuits, and he certainly 
brought to the discussion of these subjects such powers 
of mind, united with such multifarious and general know- 
ledge, as few Welshmen have evinced since the time of the 
celebrated Edward Llwyd. His eminent character for ge- 
neral literature excited an additional interest for the sub- 
jects of which he treated, and awakened, in many instances, 
the curiosity of those who would have turned with disgust 
from the works of humbler authors, and who had esteemed 
the investigation of the Welsh history and language as use" 
less as it was then deemed unfashionable. To the effect of 
his example and labours may undoubtedly be traced much 
of that better taste, which now prevails in the Principality, 
and which we may reasonably hope to see far more widely 
disseminated under the auspices of the numerous societies 
now established for that purpose*. 

Hitherto, however, though he had written much and 

* The original in this place mentions merely the Cambrian Society, which, 
at the period when this memoir was written (1&19), was the only insti- 
tution of the kind in existence. There are now, however, besides the 
Cymmrodorion or Metropolitan Cambrian Institution, four general provin- 
cial societies, and several, of an inferior, but not less zeafous character, in 
most of the principal towns in both divisions of Wales. 



381 

ably upon theological subjects, none of the dignities or 
emoluments of his profession had fallen to his share. Of 
Bishop Douglas's favourable intentions towards him there 
can be no doubt ; but the death of that prelate put an end 
to all expectations of preferment from that quarter. Bishop 
Horsley also, in common with others, entertained a very 
high opinion of his character, and, in answer to a question 
hesitatingly put, whether he knew a Mr. Peter Roberts, 
quickly replied, " To be sure, I do : there is but one Peter 
Roberts in the world." But his first preferment was de- 
rived from Bishop Cleaver, who presented him with the 
living of Llanarmon — a living certainly of little value, but 
which he had strongly solicited, and perhaps more highly 
valued, because it was the preferment of his old master 
and friend Mr. Davies. The cold and retired situation of 
this place rendered it very unsuitable to his numerous bo- 
dily infirmities, and to the nervous sensibility of his mind, 
for which the enlivening intercourse of friendly society was 
now become indispensable. He therefore spent only a few 
of the summer months at his living, but continued to make 
his regular home in the town of Oswestry, in Shropshire, 
where he was generally respected for his literary talents 
and private worth. 

About nine or ten years ago Lord Crewe gave him the 
living of Madeley, in Shropshire, and, at a later period, 
that distinguished patron of learning, Bishop Burgess, 
offered him preferment, which was respectfully declined, 
within the diocese, of St. David's. In December, 1818, his 
income received a most important addition, and was, pro- 
bably, rendered amply commensurate with all his wants, by 
the living of Halkyn, which Dr. Luxmore, Bishop of St. 
Asaph, gave him in exchange for Llanarmon. He re- 
moved to his new preferment in the following February, 



382 

and, being unable to procure a curate immediately, entered 
upon what was a new employment to him, the active duties 
of a parish priest. So little had he been accustomed to 
parochial duty, that his ministerial labours, in the course of 
a few months at Halkyn, exceeded, by his own account, 
those of his whole preceding life. In the pulpit he cer- 
tainly did not excel ; but this will not appear surprising, if 
we reflect upon his physical infirmities at this time, and 
that, until this late period of life, he had never preached 
any but a few occasional sermons. But his affability, the 
native benevolence of his heart, and charitable attentions 
to the poor, rendered him a great favourite with his pa- 
rishioners. 

His labours were now approaching fast to their termina- 
tion, and, it may be hoped, also to their reward. He had 
been accustomed, for many years, to complain of his low 
spirits, his head-aches, and other infirmities ; and his 
friends had in vain recommended to him more frequent 
exercise in the open air, as the best medicine for his bodily 
and mental ailments. The exertions, which the personal 
discharge of his duties at Halkyn called forth, seemed to 
have a favourable effect on his health, and he represented 
himself as more than usually exempt from infirmity in the 
latter end of the Spring of 1819. On Ascension-Day fol- 
lowing (May 20th,) he read the service of the church with- 
out any particular inconvenience, and, having returned 
home, was soon afterwards called to the door by a pauper, 
who solicited his charity. He was in the act of adminis- 
tering relief, when he was stretched helpless by an apoplectic 
attack, and, though he lingered until the following morn- 
ing, he continued speechless and apparently insensible until 
he expired. On his table were found several letters, one 
of which, directed to his patron, the Bishop of St. Asaph, 



383 

was intended to express to him the happiness he enjoyed 
in his new situation. So uncertain is the tenure of human 
happiness in our present state ! 

In private life Peter Roberts was in the highest degree 
amiable. As a companion he was distinguished by a play- 
ful cheerfulness of manner, an inexhaustible fund of anec- 
dote, and a happy facility of communicating information to 
others. As a neighbour, he was remarkably kind, friendly, 
and charitable. His whole conduct was stamped by the 
most unshaken probity, which was rendered yet more inte- 
resting by a certain guileless simplicity peculiar to himself. 
His erudition was unquestionable, and, without any dispa- 
ragement to living merit, he maybe safely pronounced a 
more general and profound scholar than any Welshman of 
the present day. He was particularly skilled in Hebrew 
and Rabbinical learning. His "Letters to Volney" are 
suppose to exhibit, in the most advantageous light, the vi- 
gour of his reasoning powers, as well as his philological and 
scientific acquirements. As an antiquary, it must be ad- 
mitted, that, in endeavouring to establish a favourite hypo- 
thesis, he was sometimes precipitate and fanciful, and that 
his judgment, upon such occasions, cannot be implicitly de- 
pended upon. Even his best friends must concede, that 
his " History of the Ancient Britons," and his " British 
Kings," display many proofs of inconclusive reasoning and 
credulous weakness. But these are only partial blemishes ; 
and his singular learning, with the devotion of his great 
talents to the literature and history of Wales, will always 
command the esteem, and, it may confidently be added, ex- 
cite the emulation of his countrymen*. 

* Here closes the memoir, as transcribed from the Cambro-Briton ; for 
the few observations that follow, the author of this work is himself respon- 
sible. 



384 

In addition to the works mentioned in the course of this 
memoir, he also published an Essay on the Origin of the 
Constellations — The Art of Universal Correspondence — 
Review of the Policy and peculiar Doctrines of the modern 
Church of Rome — Manual of Prophecy — Letter to Dr. 
Milner, on the supposed miracle of St. Winifred's Well*, 
and the Cambrian Popular Antiquities. Most of these 
serve to confirm the justice of the reputation he had gene^ 
rally acquired both for talents and erudition. But, of the 
Cambrian Popular Antiquities, one of his latest produc- 
tions, if not the last of all, it must, in candour, be said, 
that it falls far short of the expectations that might rea- 
sonably have been excited on the occasion, whether with a 
view to the interesting nature of the subject, or to the ac- 
knowledged abilities of the writer. But, it is obviously a 
work of much haste, and apparently written, rather to set 
off the plates that accompany it*|-, than for the purpose of 
treating, in a full and satisfactory manner, the "popular 
antiquities" of Wales. Yet, sufficient merit remains in 
the other works of Peter Roberts to establish the fame of 
the writer on a sure and indestructible basis. 

Besides, such of his writings as had already seen the 
light, he had also contemplated some others of importance, 
and, among these, a Hebrew Lexicon, the plan of which, 

* St. Winifred's Well is situate at Holywell, in Flintshire. During the 
prevalence of papal fanaticism in this country, a miraculous efficacy was 
ascribed to its healing virtues: and even in more modern times some 
instances of the delusion might be quoted. It is to one of the latest of 
these, perhaps the very last, that this letter has reference. 

f In justice to our national customs, it should be stated, that these plates 
have little or no reference to the subjects to which they profess to be dedi- 
cated. They are only calculated to mislead strangers in forming their esti- 
mate of the " popular antiquities" of the principality. 



385 

when submitted to some distinguished members of the 
University of Oxford, received a very high commendation. 
But, neither this work, nor the others alluded to, had been 
sufficiently advanced for publication. His only production, 
that has been found worthy of posthumous publicity, is a 
translation of the " Triads of the Social State," ascribed to 
the ancient British lawgiver, Dyvnwal Moelmud. This 
has been recently published among the transactions of the 
Cymmrodorion or Cambrian Institution, and adds another 
proof to those previously in existence of the patriotic inte- 
rest which the writer took in promoting the literature of 
his country — dysg yr hen gymry da*. 
— — * — 

* "The learning of the good old Cymry." Davydd ab Gwjlym". 



THE END. 



J. M'Creery, Tooks-court, 
Chancery-Lane, London. 



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